SG1 Highschool
by babygeek310
Summary: A cliche fic. The characters from stargate in an ordinary high school setting. Teal'c is out of character because he doesn't really fit into high school. Sam/Jack. Chapter 4 onwards will be co-written with lkhoward88.
1. Chapter 1

Sam gulped nervously as she took in her new surroundings

Sam gulped nervously as she took in her new surroundings. The building looked exactly the same as any other high school, but that was little comfort to Sam. She was still terrified of starting a new school. She walked through seemingly endless masses of people, looking for the reception area. Suddenly Sam slammed into the back of someone and was sent sprawling on the floor. Instantly Sam saw what was coming, she would be laughed at and become the school nerd for the next two years until she moved again. Her dad was military, they always moved every two years. As expected someone started to laugh but then, rather than joining in, the person she had walked into told them to shut up.

"Sorry about that," a huge black boy, the person Sam had somehow managed not to see and had walked into, held out his hand to help her up "I'm Teal'c,"

"I'm Sam," Sam mumbled, running her fingers through her hair. "Sorry for walking into you,"

"Don't worry about it," smiled Teal'c. Sam was already starting to like this gentle giant. "I've not seen you around before, you new?"

"Yeah I'm starting today. You wouldn't know where reception is would you?" Sam asked, feeling like she had already made a new friend. That was definitely a much better start than at any of her previous schools.

"Yeah come on, I'll take you there. You moved in recently then?" asked Teal'c as he walked. For every one of Teal'c's strides, Sam had to take two. And since Sam was quite a tall girl, that was saying something.

"Saturday. Moved into that house at the top of Burrow's Hill," Sam said, trying to make light conversation but not having a clue what she was supposed talk about.

"Oh yeah, I know the place. A friend of mine lives up there. So, Sam short for anything?" Teal'c was taking Sam through a maze of halls and corridors that looked identical to her.

"Samantha but please don't call me that," Sam grimaced "What kind of a name is Teal'c anyway?"

"A made up kind of name. My mom thought it up when she was pregnant. I've got a brother called Ry'ac," Teal'c grinned.

Soon they had reached the reception desk. Teal'c opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by someone yelling at him from across the hall.

"Yo T! Come on, if we're late one more time this year Mrs Beaston's gonna throw us in detention until we look like her!" the speaker, a gorgeous looking senior jogged over to Sam and Teal'c. He spotted Sam and flashed her a grin. "I'm Jack. Jack O'Neill. That's O'Neill with two L's, the…"

"Dude shut up," laughed Teal'c giving Jack a shove. Sam chuckled quietly at the exchange, glad that their attention wasn't solely on her. Jack was very good looking and Sam wasn't sure her brain could handle the pressure of talking to him in whole sentences. "Well we've gotta go. You should sit with us at lunch,"

The boys didn't wait for Sam's reply before running off down the hall to their next class. Sam watched them leave with a smile on her face.


	2. Chapter 2

The morning seemed to pass by in a flash for Sam as she muddled her way between classes

The morning seemed to pass by in a flash for Sam as she muddled her way between classes. It almost didn't seem real to her. Before long it was lunch time. Sam started to feel nervous again. Sure, Teal'c had said she could sit with him at lunch but he was probably just being polite, after all he was a senior whilst Sam was only a sophomore. In her French class Sam had befriended another 10th grader, a brown haired boy named Daniel who talked none stop. Thankful the talking was very useful. Although she hadn't learnt much French she did know that Teal'c and Jack were the most popular guys in school, both on the football team (naturally). The head cheerleader was a Jack's ex-girlfriend, Sarah, but she was under heavy competition from a junior called Janet, whom Daniel had a huge crush on. Sam's head reeled at the vast amount of information that was given to her at high speed.

Daniel walked Sam to the cafeteria before running off for extra curricular Hebrew lessons or something like that. Sam got her lunch and looked around for a place to sit. The room was filled with students all sat in with their friends, there wasn't a free table anywhere. Sam sighed. In her last school Sam had been forced to eat lunch outside on her own unless it was raining, in which case she was in the bathroom.

"SAM! Sam over here," Sam spun around to see Teal'c ushering her over. Sam smiled and went to join him. At the table with him was Jack and a small brunette girl.

"I'm Janet," she said with a smile Sam retuned the smile and introduced herself as she sat down next to Teal'c, opposite Jack. Sam was very quiet throughout lunch as she was a little weary of saying something that her new friends wouldn't approve of. Sam was used to being the new girl and was used to how tough high school could be.

"So what classes are you taking?" asked Teal'c. Sam rummaged through her bag and pulled out her timetable. The others leaned over to see read what is said. Jack let out a low whistle.

"So you're a smart chick then?" he said, although not offensively or cruelly. Sam nodded, blushing slightly. Even though she was still in the 10th grade most of her classes were seniors. Sam had opted out of skipping ahead grades as she was still unsure of what she wanted to do in the future. It felt like she was rushing into an uncertain career. "Teal'c told me you live at the top of Burrow's Hill. I live just past there, I can give you a ride home if you like,"

"Are you sure it's not out of your way? I don't mind walking if it is," said Sam. It'd been a long walk to school that morning and her house wasn't on any bus routes. She'd be really grateful if Jack would drive her home but she didn't want to be a burden, especially not on the first day.

"Nah its fine, I drive past there anyway. I'll meet you in the parking lot after classes finish," Jack mumbled between huge mouthfuls of pie. Janet glared at Jack, clearly disgusted.

"Didn't your mother teach you any manners?" she snapped, removing Jack's plate from under him.

"Hey! I wasn't done with that," Jack tried to grab it back. As the others squabbled over their food and complained about there being no difference in taste between all of their different meals, Sam saw Daniel walk nervously over. Sam smiled gently; Daniel really did have it bad for Janet.

"Urm Sam? You dropped your notebook," he murmured, passing it to her.

"Oh! Thanks Daniel. Did you write down what the homework was, 'cos I…uh…didn't," Sam had written down the homework, she always made sure she did, but she was looking for a reason to stay a bit longer. Although Jack, Teal'c and Janet were nice, Sam couldn't yet talk to them as easily as she could to Daniel.

"Yeah sure," Daniel leant over Sam and wrote across the top of her notebook the homework before leaving. Sam cursed inwardly and read what Daniel had written. Sam smiled to herself upon deciphering his scruffy scrawl.

_I know you wrote down the homework – I saw. I'm a geek Sam; I'm not allowed to sit at that table. We can talk in lessons or after class sometime._

Daniel had put his phone number and home address on the page as well.


	3. Chapter 3

Just a short chapter I'm afraid. This chapter hasn't been beta read so no doubt it'll be filled with mistakes so sorry about that. Thank you guys so much for the reviews, and I'm glad you like it.

* * *

By the end of the day Sam was exhausted. Trying to make new friends in each class, learning her way around the school, figuring out which teachers were strict or nice and on top of all that actually doing some class work. Sam walked into the parking lot and looked around for Jack. Spotting him leaning against what Sam assumed was his car; she walked over to meet him. There was thick snow all over the ground, it having snowed at some point in the afternoon. Sam was suddenly very, very thankful for having a ride home since, although the snow was pretty, it would be freezing cold.

"Hi Jack," she said shyly. Jack gave her a soft smile and opened the passenger door for her to get in.

"There you go," Sam blushed and got in. Jack grinned happily before walking round the car and getting in as well. The journey was mostly void of speech, with just the radio on for background noise, as Sam was still unsure of how to approach Jack. Jack glanced at Sam before putting his eyes back on the road.

"You move around a lot then?" he asked gruffly. Chit-chat wasn't exactly Jack's strong point.

"Every two years. My dad's a Colonel in the air force so we just go where he's assigned. I'm pretty used to being the new kid," Sam shrugged, although Jack didn't see it as he was concentrating on driving, the snow making it difficult to drive.

"Who's we? You and your mom?" Jack guessed, hoping to set Sam off on a big spiel. He liked hearing her voice, although he hadn't heard much of it yet.

"No my mom died a few months back. 'We' is me and my brother Mark," Sam studied Jack as she spoke. His handsome features were set into a frown as he thought.

"Mark Carter, that the one?"

"Yeah that's him,"

"He's in my P.E class, guys got a good arm. Could use him on the football team with a pass like that," It has to be the longest Sam had heard Jack talk for. Even with Janet and Teal'c, who he knew well, he hadn't said much. Just the odd sarcastic comment that made Sam giggle.

"He doesn't believe in team sports," Sam laughed as Jack's jaw dropped open "But you can try and persuade him anyway,"

Jack pulled into Sam's street and, after asking which one it was, stopped outside her house.

"Thank you for the ride," Sam said nervously. She bit down on her lip, thinking. Did she dare do it? If she did and Jack didn't like it she'd be the laughing stock of the school by the next morning. However if she did do it….Sam swallowed her fears and leaned of to Jack. She kissed him once, lightly, on the cheek. Jack smirked.

"Anytime. I'll pick you up tomorrow for school. I'll give Mark a ride too if he wants one," Jack said, with that smirk still plastered on his face. Sam thanked Jack again and got out of the car.


	4. Chapter 4

This chapter was mostly written by lkhoward88 so credit goes to her not me. From now on this fic is going to be co-written between the two of us so please allow for any minor continuity errors whilst we find our feet. As ever, thank you for your replies.

* * *

Sam was woken from the dead of sleep by someone pulling the covers back from her bed, exposing her to the coldness of the air.

"If you don't get moving you'll never make it to school on time," the boy, who Sam recognized to be her brother, said.

"I'm getting a ride," Sam mumbled sleepily.

"With who?" Mark asked sharply, already feeling protective over Sam from the unnamed 'threat'.

"Jack O'Neill," Sam said as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. "You can come too," she quickly added, hoping to quell his bad mood.

Thirty minutes later, Jack pulled up in front of the Carter house. Sam got in the passenger seat, leaving Mark to crawl in the back.

"Sam," he greeted her, "And you're Mark right? We have P.E. together, I think."

"Yeah, right."

"Ever thought about playing football?" Jack quickly asked, taking his eyes from the road for a second to look in the rear-view mirror at his other passenger.

"Uh… no. I'm not much for team sports. I like more of the individual stuff, like running or tennis," Mark claimed.

"That's too bad," Jack responded. "You've got a good arm and we need a new quarterback."

"Not interested," Mark insisted.

Sam listened to the two boys talk, whilst getting lost in her own thoughts. Yesterday had been really hectic, with trying to find her way around the new school and meeting new people, she was grateful to the two boys that had knocked all of her books out of her arms because it introduced her to Teal'c.

She wasn't quite sure about Teal'c he seemed way too nice for the big guy that he was, in fact if she had met him any other way, she probably would have went running in the other direction! But he seemed friendly and…might she admit it- 'Cool', to the point that for her first time, Sam wondered if she might actually be part of the in-crowd at this school.

"Sam," a voice called.

"What?" she asked slightly annoyed.

"Uh… we're here," Jack said, unsure of himself.

"Come on twerp, let's go," Mark instructed, flicking Sam on the side of her head. Sam swatted his hands away. Just because Mark was nearly eighteen, didn't mean he was any less of a child.

"I have practice after school today," Jack said, "So if you're still around, I'll give you a ride home- otherwise, I'll see you tomorrow. Unless you want to go to football practice…" Jack hedged looking directly at Mark as he spoke.

"Fat chance," Mark declared in a tone that indicated the topic was not up for discussion.

Jack held his hands up, although with the papers and books he had in them, it didn't have quite the desired effect. "Alright, I get the hint. No football for you!"

"See you later guys," Sam said and watched as her brother and Jack walked away. She could barely hear Jack ask, "What do you think about hockey?" as the boys walked out of earshot.

Sam turned around only to find Daniel standing right in front of her. "Daniel," she greeted the boy happily.

Daniel's arms were full of books, much like Jack's, only the books were much thicker. And there were more of them.

"Sam," Daniel responded, giving her a soft smile. "Where's your locker?" he asked.

"Across from my first period history class," Sam said, recalling yesterday's adventure as someone explained the weird number system of the lockers at this particular school- after she had spent ten minutes trying to get into a locker that belonged to someone else.

"Who do you have?" Daniel asked as he fell in step next to Sam as she led the way towards her locker.

"Smith for AP History," Sam said, ducking her head in embarrassment.

"Cool! I do too!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Really? My guidance counsellor told me that the AP classes were mostly for seniors and a few juniors," Sam recounted.

"Yeah, well English, history, and foreign languages are my thing. You won't see me in your science or math classes Sam," Daniel said gesturing towards the several books for those classes.

"I'll help you with science and math if you'll help me with French," Sam offered.

"Deal," Daniel agreed and then went silent as they approached Sam's locker.

Because Janet Fraiser was standing next to Sam's locker, waiting for her.

"Good morning Sam," Janet said happily.

"How did you know where my locker was?" Sam asked, slightly confused.

"I help in the guidance office," Janet explained. "And my locker is right next to yours. So did the first day of the new school year go okay?"

"Yeah, it was fine. Janet, do you know Daniel? He's in my history and French class," Sam said introducing the two.

"I think we had P.E. together last year," Janet admitted as she smiled at Daniel.

Daniel seemed to be at a loss for words, so he quickly mumbled, "I'll… uh save you a seat Sam," before disappearing into the classroom. Janet giggled.

"He's kinda cute in a shy, nerdy sorta way, you know? Anyways, I was wondering if you had plans for the Saturday? The homecoming dance is coming up, and I still haven't bought a dress. I can't find anything that isn't pink or purple in my size," Janet admitted, "And I'm sure you don't have a dress."

"Yeah but I'm the new girl. No one will want to take the new girl to homecoming, I'm not going to get asked," Sam stated.

"Trust me Sam, someone will ask you to go to homecoming," Janet stated. "So shopping on Saturday?"

"I'll have to check with my dad, but yeah that sounds like fun," Sam admitted, happy that she had found someone who wasn't a total girly girl or lacked a brain like most of the girls that she had been found herself being friends with at her previous schools.

"Good, I'll call you later to iron out all the details," Janet promised as she quickly rushed down the hall at the sound of the bell.

'Maybe this school will be better than the last few,' Sam thought as she ducked into her history class for the first time.


	5. Chapter 5

As ever my thanks go out to lkhoward88 for making this much better than it ever was before! Hope you enjoy reading it.

* * *

Sam chewed on her pen, bored.

Really, really bored. There was only so much time she could spend studying her classmates before she realized she didn't know any of them.

She looked up at the clock on the wall. Five minutes until lunch.

Still.

As far as Sam was concerned it'd been five minutes until lunch for the past half an hour with the way the lesson was dragging on. Normally Sam loved Calculus but she had finished the class work ages ago and now she was just waiting. She didn't want to ask for more work, or to leave early, because she would look like a geek in front of her new classmates.

Especially since she was currently in a class full of seniors.

Appearing overly smart would definitely set her up for some name calling. Sam knew from experience that showing up a class of people older than you was not a good idea, particularly when half of them looked like they were on the football team.

Sam looked at the clock again. Four minutes until lunch. Sam sighed; it was going to be a long four minutes.

Eventually the bell rang and Sam got out of math and went to meet Daniel. Although she did want to sit with her other new friends at lunch and get to know them better, Daniel had offered to help her with her French homework. As Sam needed to hand it in after lunch, she thought it would be best to go with Daniel. Plus Daniel was fun to talk to. Sam spent most of her lunch in the library with Daniel working and laughing. He really was very clever and he had great sense of humour to match.

At some point during lunch, Sam saw Jack come into the library with two guys that she recognised but couldn't quite place. Sam caught Jack's eye and smiled at him, he returned it although his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Sam's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Jack looked away quickly. Maybe she had upset him or something. Sam swallowed, looking away from Jack as well.

"Sam you ok?" asked Daniel, realising that Sam's attention was elsewhere. Sam looked at him nodding. Sam was feeling slightly panicked, what had she done wrong?

"Jack just smiled but it…it was…" Sam trailed off, feeling stupid now she'd tried to say it out loud. She was over reacting, Jack had smiled back so why was she in a panic? Thankfully Daniel distracted her from continuing her over thinking.

"Sam look, here, your words are right but your grammar's wrong. That's what's making the sentence so confusing," said Daniel pointing at Sam's notebook. They continued working for a short while but Sam was now feeling pensive.

"Daniel, am I a geek?" Sam asked, Daniel looking taken aback. He blinked as he tried to unscrambled his thoughts.

"No Sam, you're not a geek. You're just smart. You hang around with jocks and cheerleaders, you're popular," he claimed.

"I've only been here a day and a half! How can I be popular? I've never been before," gasped Sam. Daniel chuckled slightly at Sam's disbelief. Her obliviousness to her 'popularity potential' was kind of sweet.

"Come on it's nearly time for class," smiled Daniel. The pair packed away some of their papers and books and began to head out of the library.

"Do you wanna come over to my place tonight? We've just been working so far, it'd be nice to hang out," suggested Sam as they walked past Jack's table. Sam glanced at Jack, who was scowling at his shoes.

"Yeah I'd love to. I've gotta go home first, I promised I'd help clean up the kitchen. I'll come round at about seven or something," Daniel was beaming, obviously loving the idea of spending some time with his new friend.

"Sounds good," the two friends left to go to their separate classes.

Still in the library one of Jack's friends, Charlie Kawalsky, flicked a paper ball at him.

"What's that face for?" he asked, ducking from Jack's retaliation (which consisted merely of a mass of paperclips being propelled at Kawalsky's head).

"Nothing, just this girl," Jack mumbled.

"That cute blonde?" said Kawalsky, motioning to the door that Sam had just left from.

Jack nodded in response.

"Anyway, I'll catch you later. Me and Ferretti have a date with detention," but Jack was already lost in thought as Kawalsky and Louis Ferretti left the room.

Sam was amazed at how quiet the school had gotten in the short space of time since classes had ended. She was sat outside on a wall in the freezing cold, waiting for Jack. She wasn't sure why, but Sam had felt the need to wait for him to finish practice.

Eventually Jack came into the parking lot with the two guys he had been with earlier. Janet had pointed them out in the hallway as being Kawalsky and Ferretti, the notable class clowns of the senior class, but Sam wasn't quite sure which was which yet.

Sam bit her lip, feeling stupid for waiting. She went to start walking when Jack called out to her.

"Need a ride Sam?" At the sound of Jack's voice Sam turned around and took a few steps towards them.

Before she could answer one of the guys he was with cut in. "I thought we were going for pizza?"

"We can take Sam home, and then get pizza," Jack hissed, shoving Ferretti lightly on the shoulder.

"It's ok, I'll walk. I don't want to put you out," Sam said with her best fake smile. She meant what she said about not wanting to disadvantage Jack in any way but she wasn't happy, mainly with herself, for waiting around.

"You waited," Jack said simply. Sam wasn't sure how to reply. Yes she had waited, but he obviously hadn't expected her to. Sam blushed.

"Come on then…err…" Kawalsky stumbled on his words, forgetting Sam's name. Ferretti whispered it to him. "Sam! Come on then Sam, get in. I'm hungry and Jack wants to take you home first," he claimed.

Sam laughed at Kawalsky. He had a sort of mischievous charm about him, that was adorable and yet slightly annoying. Sam looked up at Jack for approval who opened the car door, gesturing for Sam to get in.


	6. Chapter 6

This fic is 100 lkhoward88's work as I couldn't think of anything to add! I think you'll agree its a rather good chapter. Next chapter will be mostly my work, I do write some of my fics, honest.

* * *

Jack no more than put the car in park when Mark rushed from the house.

"Where have you been?" he screamed at Sam but looked past her to the three boys in the car.

Mark looked like he was going to rush the three boys who were now getting out of the car, so Sam moved to restrain him.

"Mark, I just waited around after school until Jack could give me a ride, that's all," Sam said trying to pacify her brother.

"That's one boy, not three!" Mark objected.

"Hey! We didn't do anything," Kawalsky objected.

Which was the wrong thing to do because it only angered Mark further.

"Yeah, we're just along for the ride," Ferretti pointed out. "Jack said we were going to drop her off and then we're going for pizza."

"Yeah," Kawalsky agreed.

"Of course that was the plan," Mark said sarcastically.

"It was," Jack insisted.

"Somehow I don't see Sam agreeing to get into the car with three teenage guys for a ride. Especially three she hardly knows," Mark claimed.

"Sam is right here, why don't you ask her," Sam suggested loudly.

"Stay out of this," Mark and Jack said at the same time.

"Why should I?" Sam shot back. "Stupid boys," she said under her breath.

"Go! In the house," Mark barked, pointing towards the house.

"You can't make me," Sam objected, her eyes flashing in anger at her brother.

"Wanna bet?" Mark asked, turning all of his attention to his younger sister.

The kids had been so involved in the 'discussion' that was going on that they missed the car that had pulled up and the large, bald headed man that had gotten out, and walked towards the kids.

"Am I interrupting something?" the man asked.

"Yes!" All the kids said, turning their gazes to the new arrival.

Jack was the first to recover when he realized who the man was, "Coach Hammond," he greeted the man, "What do we owe the pleasure of your presence to?"

"Can it O'Neill," Hammond barked. "Now, which one of you wants to tell me what the problem is?" Hammond asked looking between Ferretti and Kawalsky.

"Not me sir," Ferretti was quick to say.

"I know nothing Coach," Kawalsky added.

Sam had to hide a chuckle. It was pretty evident to her that Kawalsky really did know next to nothing.

"Your grades are evident of what you know Kawalsky. Maybe if you spent some time in class rather then detention we'd see an improvement in those grades. Speaking of which, how did the two of you end up with detention on the second day of classes?" Hammond demanded.

"It was hold over resentment from last year Coach. Ms. Hathor seems to still think that we were involved in the water balloon incident," Ferretti explained.

"And you're telling me that you had nothing to do with it?" Hammond questioned.

"Coach, we never pull the same joke twice, and if you recall, we got in trouble our sophomore year for pulling that one on Mrs. Nirrti. It was obviously an imitator," Kawalsky claimed.

Hammond's laughter was more of a bark. "For some odd reason son, I believe you."

Now, will one of you tell me what's going on here?"

"Just a friendly disagreement over whether I can take care of myself and make my own decisions," Sam claimed.

Hammond looked the blonde haired young women over. She looked like a tall bean pole but the fire in his eyes made him think twice about crossing her. "And you are?" he asked.

"Sam Carter," she answered.

"Ah." Hammond had heard the teachers talking about 'Sam', a.k.a. the new kid. Supposedly 'Sam' was the brightest student the school had ever had, taking every class that was normally reserved for seniors, and flying through them, at least if the Calculus teacher was telling the truth. "So if you're Sam, short for Samantha I'm presuming, you," Hammond said as he turned to Mark, "Must be Mark, which is why I'm here."

"I'm not playing football!" Mark quickly exclaimed.

"Now son, I think there are some possible advantages to playing football that you haven't thought of yet," Hammond pointed out.

"Like what?" Mark demanded.

"Like the possibility of a scholarship. If you're as good as my Captain thinks, I'd say you'd have a good chance of getting a scholarship to a smaller school," Hammond explained.

Further discussion was interrupted by a car pulling into the driveway and a man in Air Force dress blues getting out.

"Now we're in for it," Mark mumbled.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jacob demanded as he approached the group of five kids and one adult gathered on his front lawn.

"Jacob?" Hammond asked as he looked at the newly arrived man, squinting his eyes as he saw something familiar in the man's face.

"George?" Jacob questioned in return.

"Oh no," Sam said as something clicked in her head. She knew she recognized Coach Hammond from somewhere. As long as she could remember, her father had kept a picture from his first unit's deployment on his desk. Standing right next to a much younger Lieutenant Jacob Carter had been a much younger and less bald Lieutenant George Hammond.

The two men exchanged hand shakes and back slapping hugs as they greeted each other, all of the kids looking on in surprise. It only took a few seconds for Jacob to turn his attention to the reason why his old friend was here.

"So why are you here George?"

"I'm the head football coach at you son's new school and I'm in desperate need of a quarterback. One of my team captains, Jack O'Neill," Hammond pointed out Jack, "Mentioned his name as a possible candidate yesterday. I'm here to try and talk him into at least giving it a try."

"And the rest of you?"

"Just dropping Sam off after practice Colonel Carter," Jack quickly explained.

Jacob looked closely at the boy. "O'Neill huh? Are you General O'Neill's son by chance?"

"Yes sir. I'm the oldest sir," Jack explained.

Jacob turned his gaze to the other two boys.

"We're with him," Ferretti quickly explained.

"And all three of you play football?" Jacob questioned.

"We're all team captains," Kawalsky proclaimed proudly.

Jacob looked at Hammond questioning the validity of the statement.

Hammond shrugged his shoulders. "The boys voted. I didn't have any say in the matter," he explained.

"Uh-hu," Jacob stated. "Well then, I think you're all coming in, going to call your parents and tell them where you're at, and then we'll talk about why you're all at my house." Jacob didn't even wait for the kids to respond, just started walking towards the still open front door, Hammond falling into step next to him.

Jacob let out an audible sigh of relief. "Thank god it's nothing serious," he claimed.

"Nothing serious?" Hammond questioned.

Jacob smiled. "I thought you were the principal coming to tell me that Sam had blown something up in Chemistry class- again," he explained.

Both men chuckled as Hammond gained a new respect for the younger Carter child. It seemed like she took after her dad with respect to some things even if she looked like her mom.


	7. Chapter 7

This chapters mostly my work, appart from a few minor things so thanks to lkhoward88 for beta reading. Thanks for reading and replying, we'll have a shiny new chapter for you soon!

* * *

Sam couldn't decide who she was angrier with – her dad or her brother. They had both been overprotective of her, although Jacob less so then Mark.

After a lengthy questioning process from Jacob, Jack, Ferretti and Kawalsky had been authorised to go out. And Jack had been given permission to give Sam rides in the future, though it had taken a lot of prodding on Sam's part for Jacob to agree to that one.

The boys were no more than out the door when Jacob turned on Sam to lecture her. She'd heard the lecture a thousand times before so Sam allowed herself to tune it out and simply nod in what she knew were the correct places. Meanwhile Hammond was working on convincing Mark to join the football team, and amazingly it seemed to be working.

Sam suspected it had something to do with the comment related to "No one messes with the quarterback's sister," that was the real selling point.

Sam noticed that her dad was coming to the end of his rant so she began to listen again.

"We're just trying to look after you Sam," Jacob gave Sam a soft smile.

"I know dad, but I can look after myself you know," said Sam, returning his smile.

"I know," the pair embraced before quickly parting. Jacob turned around and walked over to talk to Hammond and Mark.

"Dad?" uttered Sam, making Jacob turn back to her.

"Yeah Sam?" he asked, his tone still gentle having fully clamed down from earlier.

"Can I have a friend over tonight? A male friend….named Daniel Jackson?" Sam questioned, knowing that it wasn't the best thing to be asking so soon after the 'boys' lecture. Instead of answering Sam directly Jacob stalked over to Hammond and started talking to him.

"You know this kid Daniel Jackson?" Jacob enquired.

"Yeah he's a good kid. Pretty clever, very talented with languages. Best history student I've ever had. Bit of a loner though," Hammond's reply seemed to satisfy Jacob as he gave Sam permission to have Daniel over.

Even though it'd been years since the two men had served together in the air force, they still trusted each others judgement completely. They may have had differing opinions on certain situations, however when it came down to it they each knew that the other man would always make the right decision. For example, Jacob stayed in the air force to support his family financially whilst Hammond left the air force to spend time with his family. Both could see the merits of the other man's actions.

The discussion soon turned to football, which Sam quickly tired of, so she excused herself and went to her bedroom.

Once there she looked around in horror, her room was a mess! Anything that wasn't still packed away in one of the hundreds of boxes left from the move was on her floor. There was only an hour or so until Daniel arrived. Although Sam wasn't trying to impress him, she didn't want Daniel to think that she was a messy person. Sam set about trying to tidy up her room the best she could in the short space of time. After what Sam thought had only been a few minutes, but was in reality three quarters of an hour, there was a light knock on her door.

"Sam? It's Daniel. Can I come in?" Sam kicked some rouge clothes under her bed before going and opening her bedroom door.

"Hey, come in," Sam smiled, stepping aside to let Daniel in. Sam left the door open as she knew that either her Dad or Mark would be spying on her to make sure that she and Daniel behaved.

"Sorry I'm early; things are a little hectic back home. My foster parents are making room for another foster kid so I thought I'd get out while I could. Nice bedroom by the way," said Daniel. Sam blinked in shock; Daniel was in a foster home. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to react to that. Instead she focused on the last comment.

"Thanks. I want to decorate it soon though, pink wallpaper isn't very me," Sam said, looking around her room. Pink really wasn't her style.

"Cool, what colour are you going to paint it?" Daniel asked enthusiastically clearly glad that Sam wasn't going to make a big deal about him being in a foster home. He didn't like to talk about it much although he wasn't sure why he was so opposed. His parents had died nearly a decade ago and since then he'd been living with his foster parents, a nice couple who didn't have a bad bone in their bodies.

Sam and Daniel started talking and soon found that they couldn't stop. Daniel was so easy to talk to and Sam found herself really opening up to him, telling him about how rough a time she'd had in previous schools. Daniel could identify completely and seemed happy to know that he wasn't the only one who'd struggled to find friends in the past.

"So how long have you had a thing for Janet?" asked Sam, getting down to the good stuff. Daniel blushed a little.

"Since I was about twelve," he mumbled. Sam couldn't help but let out an 'awww' which made Daniel blush even more.

"Well if it's any consolation, she thinks you're kinda cute," said Sam, tactfully leaving out the 'in a nerdy sort of way' comment. Daniel practically beamed.

"Soooo, what's going on with you and Jack?" Daniel teased, nudging Sam's arm. Now it was Sam's turn to blush.

"Nothing! Well I…err...he's…..urmm...he's really good looking," muttered Sam, feeling embarrassed. "He really seemed to like me yesterday. But this afternoon he's been a bit…strange with me," Sam hurriedly added.

"Who knows Sam? Maybe he was just in a bad mood," Daniel shrugged, not wanting to get into a conversation that would quickly become 'girl talk'. "Or because your brother was there," he added as an afterthought, having heard about the whole 'lecture' and series of events that had occurred prior to his arrival.

"Yeah, that's probably it," said Sam before turning the topic to schoolwork once more.


	8. Chapter 8

This chapter has been revised to take out a couple of typos but is once again mostly lkhoward88's work

* * *

The Monday of Sam's second week of school made Sam think about how different this school experience was from her last several.

Her brother was playing his first school team sport ever. And not just any sport, but football. And not just any position, but starting quarterback. The brother that had hidden away and been only slightly more popular than Sam in their previous schools had suddenly become one of the most sought after boys in school- as a friend and boyfriend.

Sam only wished that her father would give Mark the same lecture about girls as she got about boys. But Sam figured that her dad was just happy Mark was finally getting involved in sports, though the mention of Mark joining the Air Force had been shot down in a very loud argument two nights ago, so the short respite that Mark playing football had brought their house, quickly ended.

Jack continued to keep his distance, still picking Sam and Mark up every morning and dropping them off after practice every night. Sam found herself volunteering, at least until basketball season, to help her Calculus teacher tutor students who needed help in various Math classes so that she had a reason to stay after school.

Meanwhile, Sam had learned from Janet during their shopping trip that she had made the leap to Captain of the cheerleading squad after Jack's ex-girlfriend fell while trying to do a "flip that she was so not capable of doing and then she broke her leg in like two places," Janet had told her. Sam had congratulated her newest, best girlfriend.

The two of them had made a day of shopping at the local mall, where Janet finally managed to track down a dress that she liked. It was a pale green dress that somehow complimented her red hair and with the two inch pair of high heels she didn't look nearly as short as she did walking through the halls of their high school.

After much cajoling from Janet, Sam bought herself not one, but two dresses.

"Come on Sam, this dress is perfect for you," Janet exclaimed.

"But it's too much to wear to homecoming," Sam said as she turned around in the dress, watching as the material floated around a little bit before falling to the ground.

"So get it for prom," Janet suggested, a smile forming on her face.

"PROM?"

"Yeah, you know that event that happens in the spring where everyone gets all dressed up, goes out to eat, etc. etc.," Janet reminded her.

"Sophomores do not go to prom," Sam said.

"Sophomores that look like you and are the sister of the quarterback do," Janet claimed.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Hey Janet! And Sam!" Teal'c said as he saunter into the shop, "You two had lunch yet?"

Janet's face lit up in a smile. "Not yet Teal'c. Are you here with…?"

"Jack, Charlie, and Rya'c, yeah, they're waiting outside. We saw you through the window, but I think Jack thought it would damage his image if someone saw his walking into a dress shop," Teal'c explained with a huge smile.

Janet shook her head and chuckled. "That's O'Neill logic for you. So, are you going to get that dress Sam or can we go now?" Janet asked impatiently.

Sam took one more turn in the mirror before heading to take it off. "I don't think so. Like I said, there's no way I'm going to prom and dad will have a fit if I buy it and never wear it," she called from the changing room.

"Sam," Teal'c offered, "I guarantee you'll go to prom if you wear that dress. I'll take you if no one else will."

"Don't you have a girlfriend?" Sam asked confused as she appeared once again dressed in her jeans and t-shirt.

"Yep."

"Won't she be upset that you're taking another girl to the prom?"

"I won't be taking you to the prom," Teal'c declared, "Someone else will ask you. Trust me."

Sam looked between Janet and Teal'c and sighed. "Okay," she said, "I'll get the dress. But you two are explaining to my father why I had to buy said dress when he gets the bill."

"Deal," they both said at the same time.

After Sam paid for the dress, Janet offered her one suggestion. "Don't admit to anything. Just let the bill show up in the mail and see what he does. If he's anything like my dad, he won't notice, just pay it and let it go," she advised.

Sam smiled and thought about the possibility of sneaking a two hundred dollar dress past her dad, and knew that would never happen.

But then her eyes landed on Jack O'Neill who was tickling a four or five year old boy that could have been his twin except for the obvious age difference.

Jack looked up when he realized that someone was watching him. "Hey," he said softly in greeting as he relinquished his hold on the boy a little bit, allowing him to escape and make a run towards Teal'c.

"Save me Teal'c," he begged. "Jack won't stop tickling me."

"That's what you get for asking to go to the mall with us," Teal'c said in a rather harsh voice, but it was obvious that it wasn't meant taken cruelly because he smiled as he said it.

Janet reached down and picked the small boy up. "Well if Teal'c won't save you, I will," she claimed. "Maybe I'll take you home with me. Think we could get Jack to trade you for Cassie?"

"NO!" Jack quickly objected, reaching over to take the boy back again. "Not another teenage girl, please no!" He begged loudly.

"Jack is the oldest of six," a boy that looked like Teal'c explained. "All of them are girls except him and Charlie."

"And all four of the girls are between the ages of thirteen and fourteen," Janet added.

"Two sets of twins," Jack explained when he saw Sam's confused look.

"This is Rya'c by the way," Teal'c said, introducing the boy. "He's my younger brother."

"And this little squirt is Charlie," Jack said with a smile and an affection tousling of the boy's hair.

"I'm not a squirt," Charlie insisted. "Mom says you were smaller than me at my age."

"And what age would that be?" Sam asked curiously, trying to picture a Jack O'Neill at this age.

"I'm six and a half," Charlie said proudly, puffing his chest out in the process as he tried to show six and half fingers on his hand.

"Wow! That's pretty old," Sam agreed.

"Don't encourage him," Jack grumped as tossed the boy onto his back, "He already convinced that he's a better brother than me."

"Who can blame him?" Rya'c asked as he led the way towards the food court. "He doesn't invite all of his friends over on the same weekend that the twins were having their birthday party."

"Yeah!" Charlie exclaimed.

Sam and Janet couldn't help it, they laughed as they followed the guys into the food court.


	9. Chapter 9

Here we go, another new chapter! Mostly written by me however there's a good chunk in the middle (when I got stuck and couldn't write anything!) that was written by lkhoward88 who also beta read - for which I can't thank enough. As ever, thankyou for the reviews and I hope you like it.

* * *

Sam couldn't help but smile as she and her friends sat at the table with the two youngsters eating their food. Charlie, who was small for his age (although he insisted he wasn't), needed to be on a booster seat just to be tall enough to reach his meal. After watching the battle between Jack and Charlie over seating arrangements for a little while, Sam cut in with her own suggestion.

"You can sit on my lap if you'd like, Charlie," Sam said softly, unsure what the boy's reaction would be.

"Yeah!" Charlie punched the air before scrambling into Sam's lap "See when you're as good looking as me you don't need booster seats. My girl can carry me."

"Your girl?" laughed Sam.

Charlie nodded.

"We can be exclusive if you like," said Charlie, deadly serious. Sam and the others laughed harder.

"And what do you mean by exclusive?"

"I won't sit on any other girls lap if you don't let any other boys sit on you," explained Charlie, in a tone that showed he thought the answer was obvious.

"Erm, ok then," Sam said, unsure what the correct response was. Charlie seemed satisfied with her 'ok' and took a big bite out of his burger.

"So where are you girls off to next?" asked Teal'c between sips of his coke.

"Hadn't really thought about it. We need to get some shoes to match our new dresses don't we Sam?" asked Janet. Sam nodded in response, her mouth too full of Charlie's fries to speak. Although it was nice that Charlie was so willing to share, Sam didn't really want to eat forty fries in one go. Sam politely declined the next handful that was waved at her.

"But you've been shopping for hours! Come on, come back to my place. We're dropping Rya'c back home in about an hour then heading over to mine. We're going to watch movies," asked Jack, smiling as he watched how good Sam was with his baby brother.

"I'd love to but Daniel's coming over later," Sam noticed Jack's grimace.

"He's a dork, ditch him," Jack snapped harshly. Sam's lips thinned into a disapproving frown.

"Yes he's intelligent but he's a great guy, Jack," Sam bit back.

"Guys…" said Teal'c, trying to break into the argument but Sam was too wound up. Daniel had to be one of the sweetest people she had met and was low in confidence on the social side, because of people like Jack.

"Excuse me Charlie, I have to go now," said Sam removing Charlie from her lap. Charlie glared at his older brother.

"You've upset my girl," he pouted.

Sam picked up her bags.

"Sam stop," Janet said jumping up and grabbing onto her arm. "Finish your food,"

"It's ok Janet; I needed to go soon anyway. I'll call you tonight," Sam turned and left.

Janet turned on Jack. "Daniel's an alright guy Jack, and he's a good friend to Sam. Stop being so jealous and glaring at her every time she mentions his name. Now if you don't mind I'm going to go and make sure she's not mad at the rest of us," Janet picked up her bags, hugged Teal'c and Rya'c goodbye. Charlie aimed to make a hasty escape but didn't quite manage it as Janet swooped down and kissed him on the forehead.

"Yuuuck!" screeched Charlie, rubbing his forehead. Janet grinned before running off to find Sam.

Teal'c turned to Jack. "You are such a jerk sometimes O'Neill. It's not like she's dating the guy or anything, just hanging out _as friends_."

"Friends. Right," Jack said sarcastically.

Teal'c gave him 'the look'. "Do you know how hard it's been for her? Moving between schools all the time? Always being the 'smart girl'? Man the stories Mark has told me! And by the way, if Mark doesn't have a problem with Jackson, and as the older brother, he's really the only one who has a claim on being able to protect her, then neither should you!" Teal'c exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Charlie quickly added, though he really had no clue what was going on other than his brother had just made 'his girl' leave.

Jack looked at Rya'c for support, but found none.

"Don't look at me man, I'm with Teal'c," the teenager insisted with raised hands.

"For cryin' out loud!" Jack exclaimed. "I'll go apologise to her," he offered.

"Will that make everyone happy?"

"Indeed."

"Yes."

"Yes please."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It didn't take Janet long to find Sam. Weighted down with several bags of clothing, Sam couldn't really go anywhere very fast, so Sam sat down on a bench to catch her breath a little. Janet slid down next to her.

"Hey Sam," Janet's voice was soft, hoping Sam wasn't still angry. "You ok?"

"I'm fine. Its….It's just I feel so bad for Daniel. He's not had the easiest of childhoods and then he's been bullied in school for being clever. I know what that's like, it's hard. You know he's so certain that I'm going to go off with you guys and never speak to him again. He sounds so surprised and happy every time I call him to go out," Sam started to feel tearful "And Jack. I didn't think Jack was like that. Daniel wouldn't tell me the names of the guys who give him a hard time. It's not Jack is it?"

"No it's not Jack. He's not like that really. You want my opinion?"

Sam nodded.

"Jack's jealous."

"Of Daniel? But why? Daniel's always on his own if he's not with me. Daniel gets such a hard time, why would Jack want that?" Sam looked genuinely baffled but at least she didn't look as if she was going to burst into tears anymore.

"Not of Daniel in general! He's jealous of the amount of time you spend with Daniel," Janet smiled as she watched Sam blush.

"Jack doesn't…err...does he…ahem…?" Sam didn't manage to finish her question as Jack arrived on the scene.

"Hey, Janet can I borrow Sam for a second?" asked Jack.

Janet eyed him suspiciously before deciding that he was alright to be left alone with Sam. Janet paused next to Jack and leaned up to whisper in his ear.

"She's still upset, make it worse and you're staying with me for the rest of the shopping trip. And I'll buy the heaviest thing I can find!" Janet hissed in his ear.

Jack gulped. For a small girl Janet could be pretty scary. Jack sat down next to Sam on the bench and looked at her. Sam didn't look up at him.

"Sam?" something in Jack's voice made Sam look up, her eyes still a little watery. Jack swallowed. He hadn't made her cry had he? "I'm sorry Sam,"

"It's ok," Sam said quickly, looking once again at her shoes.

"Checking for scuff marks?" joked Jack, trying to lighten the mood. Sam didn't laugh. Now obviously wasn't the time for humour "No, I guess it's not ok. You were standing up for your friend. The same as I'd stick up for any of my friends,"

"It's hard always being new, Jack. Always unsure of what to do, how people are going to react, who to trust, what I can and can't talk about. With Daniel it's not like that. It's never awkward of scary. I'm not nervous around him, it's just Daniel. I can talk to him about anything. Everything that's happened in my past and I know he won't judge. Sometimes you make me nervous Jack. I like you but I don't know how to handle you," Sam bit her lip. She had tried to be honest with Jack but maybe she had gone too far "Sorry, I'll shut up," Sam blushed.

"No it's ok. I'm sorry Sam. Why do I make you nervous? I don't want you to be uncomfortable around me. Sam?" Jack touched Sam's shoulder lightly, but she'd lost her confidence and couldn't bring herself to give another honest reply. She didn't want Jack to learn that she liked him after a stupid argument.

"Nothing. It's just…new," Sam mumbled. Jack slid his arm around her shoulders.

"So, you have shoes to buy I hear. I can carry your bags if you like, promise I won't complain," Jack smiled at Sam who gave him a half smile back.

"I'm meeting Daniel remember?" Sam watched Jack's face carefully, trying to judge his reaction. Jack smile faded somewhat.

"Yeah, of course," his voce was hoarse.

"I'm painting my bedroom tomorrow," said Sam. She wasn't sure why she'd said it and if the blink of shock from Jack was anything to go by, that's not what he'd been expecting either.

"What colour?" he asked, confused.

"Blue," said Sam simply.

"Need a hand?"

"Oh I wasn't trying to get you to offer…I didn't mean that you…I wasn't trying to manipulate you Jack," Sam panicked, thinking that her random comment had forced Jack to offer her help.

"What? I didn't think you were. Just thought I'd ask. We're not having a good day are we?" Jack frowned slightly.

"Sorry I'm still a little...emotional from before. If you've got time, I'd love for you to come over," Sam blushed walking away. Within seconds Janet was at her side, digging for gossip.


	10. Chapter 10

This story was written completely by lkhoward88 as I decided it was fine as it is, even without my minor edits. All credit should be directed that that way! As usual my next chapter may take a littlewhile to write but please feel free to leave reviews and thankyou to those who have already left such kind remarks.

* * *

Chapter 10

"So?" Janet asked as the two of them walked out of the mall, towards Janet's car.

"I have no idea," Sam admitted.

"You talked to him for fifteen minutes, and you still don't have clue?" Janet complained.

"I invited him to help me paint my bedroom tomorrow," Sam insisted.

Janet's eyebrows rose in a way that reminded Sam of Teal'c. "I thought Daniel and I were coming over to help you?"

"Uh-hu," Sam agreed with a slightly evil smile.

Janet just shook her head as they loaded everything into her car. "This will either go really, really well, or really, really bad," she claimed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Daniel did come over that afternoon, and they had a marathon study session, with Daniel helping Sam in French, and Sam re-teaching Daniel math and science. It was late by the time they were done.

"Why don't you just stay here tonight?" Sam suggested. "There's a guest bedroom and you could probably wear some of Mark's old clothes," she offered.

It only took one quick phone call to Daniel's foster parents for him to agree. They actually offered to drop off some clothes for him, given that they were headed out to drop off a friend of one of the other foster children anyways.

So when Jacob disappeared to the base early on Sunday morning, and Mark went to the gym for his new workout regiment, Daniel and Sam were left alone to begin painting her bedroom. When the doorbell rang, Sam assumed that it was Janet, so she had no qualms about sending Daniel to get it while she finished making breakfast.

"Oh," Jack said when Daniel opened the door. "I didn't know Sam had invited _you_."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, she didn't tell me _you_ were coming either," Daniel retorted.

'One of us has to be the bigger man here,' Jack thought.

"Obviously if we're going to get anything done today, we're going to have to put our issues on hold, so truce?" Jack suggested.

Daniel looked suspiciously at Jack.

"Agreed."

But just because they had agreed to not fight, didn't mean that Daniel was going to make it easy on Jack, especially somewhere where he felt like he had the upper hand. So he left Jack to shut the door and follow him into the kitchen.

"Jack's here," Daniel announced as he walked into the kitchen.

Sam cringed at Daniel's tone of voice. "Sorry," she said tentatively.

Daniel eyed her like he knew she really wasn't apologizing and really wasn't sorry.

An uncomfortable silence settled in the room as Jack entered.

"So breakfast?" Sam said a little too brightly, trying to cover the silence. "You didn't eat yet, did you Jack?"

"Yeah, but I'm a guy. We're always hungry," Jack assured her as he eyed the pancakes Sam set in the middle of the table.

Breakfast was slightly uncomfortable until Janet arrived, at which point conversation about the current football and cheerleading season took over. Sam noticed that Daniel didn't have much to say, but hung on every word that Janet said.

After breakfast was cleaned up, they moved to Sam's room, where the boys took over moving the large pieces of furniture away from the walls while the girls began taping up the various pieces of woodwork and laying out drop clothes to cover the carpet.

Sam kept one eye and one ear on the boys, who seemed to actually be getting along.

"Did your dad threaten them?" Janet whispered to Sam.

"No," Sam whispered back, "That's what's scaring me."

"Maybe they've been kidnapped by aliens and been replaced by clones," Janet whispered in response.

Sam giggled.

"What's so funny?" Jack demanded, which only made Janet and Sam laugh harder.

Six hours later, Sam had a newly painted light blue room. But there was just one more thing that had to be done for the room to truly feel like home.

"Glow-in the dark stars?" Janet repeated incredulously.

"Planets and stars," Sam insisted.

Mark chose that moment to walk in. "I'm just glad that I don't have to do it this time," he admitted.

"I can't help it that you don't put them in the right spots," Sam bantered.

Mark raised his hands and quickly handed over the packages of glow in the dark stickers to Jack. "Maybe you'll have better luck Jack," Mark claimed as he made a hasty retreat from the room.

As Sam instructed Jack and Daniel in star placement, they both surprised each other when they realized they had something in common. Jack's interest in astronomy and Daniel's fondness of history meant they both knew quite a bit about the constellations they were putting up.

And because of it, Sam felt like she was in a movie where one guy was constantly trying to get the upper hand on the other by showing off his knowledge. They were so involved in their competition that they didn't even notice when Sam and Janet quietly left the room.

"You're not as stupid as you act," Daniel blurted out during a lull in the conversation.

"Well thank you," Jack said sarcastically.

"That didn't come out right," Daniel quickly admitted. "It's just, if I asked anyone in school to describe you, I don't think smart or intelligent would even be mentioned."

Jack climbed down off the ladder and sat on the edge of Sam's bed. "I learned a long time ago that hiding how smart I am is an advantage. No one expects much of you," he explained.

"But if you're that smart, you've got a great chance of getting a scholarship to college, especially with playing football and everything," Daniel exclaimed.

Jack shook his head. "I knew when I was eight that I was going to the Air Force Academy. My Dad's a General, so…"

"As long as you do decent, you have nothing to worry about," Daniel finished for him. "Not like me where a scholarship is the only way I go to college."

Jack stood up and clapped Daniel on the shoulder. "You're much smarter than me Danny-boy; you'll have no problems getting that scholarship."

Sam stood in the doorway with raised eyebrows. Suddenly, Jack and Daniel were getting along like they were best friends- even when she wasn't around.

'They've definitely been kidnapped by aliens,' Sam decided with a smile.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jack's change in attitude towards Daniel wasn't quite as obvious at school, though he did insist on Daniel joining their lunch table. Jack even arranged the table so that Daniel was conveniently seated next to Janet every day.

Sam tried to call him on it once.

"I know what you're doing," Sam said one day while they stood by Jack's car, waiting for Mark to emerge from the locker room after practice.

"What?"

"With Janet and Daniel," Sam clarified.

Jack's face took on an attempted look of innocence. "Who me? You're imagining things Sam," Jack insisted.

"Say whatever you want Jack O'Neill, but you are playing Cupid," Sam replied with a smile.

"So what if I am? They both just need a push. Anyone that knows Daniel can tell that he has a huge crush on Janet. And I think Janet could be good for him, break him out of his shell a little bit," Jack maintained.

"But how do you know Janet will go along with your little plan?" Sam asked.

Jack shrugged. "I don't. But she could do a lot worse than Danny-boy, especially after her last boyfriend Tim."

"Tim?"

"They dated for two years and were getting pretty serious until Tim graduated last June and dumped her the next day," Jack explained.

"Oh. I didn't know that," Sam admitted.

"Yeah well, it's not exactly something she talks about," Jack said.

"So I didn't hear it from you," Sam summarized.

"Exactly," Jack agreed with one of his trademark smiles.


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry this chapter took such a long time to write, its completely my fault! Sorry again and thanks for your reviews and to lkhoward88 for being an amazing cowriter

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The first month and a half of school passed quickly for Sam. Mark had fully engrained himself into the football team, winning the first three games of the season by a large margin, until loosing the fourth game of the season in overtime. He was even talking about going to school on a football scholarship, though Sam wondered if that was him talking or a repetition of Coach Hammond's words.

Janet had even become comfortable in her position as Captain of the cheerleading squad while Jack, Kawalsky, and Ferretti were enjoying their first winning season in their high school careers.

Meanwhile, homework sessions with Daniel had almost become a daily thing. And it turned out that the Carter house had become the hotspot for Sam's friends to hang out. Janet, Teal'c, Daniel, Sam, and Jack often converged there to do their homework or just hang out.

Noticeably absent were Ferretti and Kawalsky who wanted to give the house a large margin after their first confrontation with Jacob Carter.

The fifth football game of the season was homecoming week, otherwise known as spirit week, and the weekend before that game was when things started to get interesting between Sam's group of friends.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"I want a cat," said Sam through a mouthful of lollypop late on Saturday afternoon.

"Why?" asked Daniel, not looking up from his notebook.

"Because cats are cool. Plus if you get the right kind of cat they're all cuddly," babbled Sam as she leaned back against the headboard of her bed, her textbook open on her lap.

If it had been math of science, something Sam could really understand, then she might have been able to pay a bit more attention. Sadly it wasn't something Sam was interested in, it was Latin. Latin! Somehow Daniel had roped Sam into taking an elective Latin class with him, so he wouldn't be on his own. Sam sucked at languages, and who spoke Latin anyway?

"Hmm? Yes I completely agree," Daniel mumbled, turning a page in his book. "How strange the word noise comes from the Latin word nausea, as in seasickness. I wonder when the meaning changed?"

"Is it really geeky to give your cat a middle name or a surname? Because I like Magnet but then I'd given him a really long full name. Like…Magnet Monatomic Flow! Ok so that doesn't really mean anything but it sounds cool."

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Sam shouted for whoever it was to come in.

"Hey guys, what cha doing?"

It was Jack, followed by Teal'c.

"Latin homework," Daniel muttered his nose still stuck in his book.

"Naming theoretical cats!" Sam said cheerily. Teal'c raised an eyebrow while Daniel rolled his eyes.

"Oookaaay," laughed Jack "Wanna take a break from all this 'work' and grab something to eat?"

"Yes!" yelped Sam jumping off the bed and reaching the door in record time.

"Sam we have…"

"Empty stomachs!" Sam cut Daniel off, knowing that if he did the puppy dog eyes at her then she'd be guilt tripped into staying and doing more work.

"Ok, ok," Daniel packed away his things extra slowly, as Sam fidgeted. If it were her own homework, Sam could have been up for days without eating, but since she had spent all afternoon learning something so monotonous she was anxious to do…well anything really.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The four left Sam's house and Jack drove them the short distance to the local pizza place, where they were met by Janet, Ferretti and Kawalsky.

As they ate their pizzas Sam found herself feeling guilty for dragging Daniel along. Although he had found some strange kind of brotherly affection with Jack and Teal'c, Daniel still struggled in the presence of other people. Ferretti and Kawalsky's presence seemed to almost subdue Daniel to silence.

"We can leave early if you like?" Sam whispered quietly in his ear. Daniel swallowed his mouthful and looked up at her. Sam saw a flash of emotion across his face, gratefulness and then his own feeling of guilt.

"It's ok Sam, we can stay. I'm not going to force you to leave because of me."

At that moment Sam wanted to throw her arms around Daniel, he was so sweet, always thinking of others before himself. Sam decided not to embarrass him like that, instead giving his hand a quick squeeze under the table where none of the others could see. Janet, who had strategically been seated opposite Daniel, attracted Sam's attention.

"So Sam, homecoming this Friday, who are you going with?" With Janet's question the whole table turned to look at Sam.

"Erm well, no one. No one's asked me," Sam started blushed furiously "I guess no one really wants me to go with them," Sam gulped, not wanting to look up at her friends' reactions.

"I'm gonna go. Walk me home Daniel?" Sam quickly suggested.

Sam threw some money on the table to cover her share of the pizza and stood up, still refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

"Yeah, of course," Daniel also left money and followed Sam outside. Once outside Daniel put his hand on Sam's shoulder to stop her from walking away. "You okay?"

"Yeah I guess. I don't know why I'm so upset I know I'm the new girl so no one wants me around but I guess it just kind of feels different here. Like there's you, Janet, Teal'c and Jack….you're all so good to me but I still feel like the odd ball. I don't know why I'm so emotional. Guess I'm just being stupid," sniffed Sam.

"Would you like a hug?" Daniel didn't wait for Sam's answer and embraced her warmly. Sam shivered, the heat from Daniel somehow drawing attention to the fact that she was freezing cold. "Don't you have a jacket?"

Sam shook her head in response.

"Right well…oh, I've left mine inside. Hang on I'll just go and get it," Daniel jogged back inside. A minute or so later Sam heard the door open and saw not Daniel but Jack walk out. Without saying a word he strode over to Sam, took off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders. Rather than putting her arms through the sleeves Sam opted to hold onto the jacket from inside. Sam heard the door open again and turned to see Daniel leaving with Janet.

"I told him to walk her home, since he's going that way anyway," Jack smiled, obviously proud of his matchmaking skills. "I said I'd take you home. I'm leaving my car with Teal'c so he can drive Ferretti and Kawalsky back later when they're done hitting on that waitress," he explained.

At his comment, Sam smiled and finally looked up to meet his eyes. His eyes were staring back, dark and full of concern.

"So no ones asked you to homecoming yet?" asked Jack, his voice soft. Sam shook her blonde head.

"No, I guess I've not made a big enough impression for people to notice me. Am I doing something wrong, Jack?" Sam questioned, her eyes shining.

"You've got a brother on the football team," Jack shrugged before turning serious once again "Sam would you like to come to the homecoming dance with me?"

"I…what?" Sam gulped nervously "Oh I get it. It's a pity date because of how I've been acting and what I said in there. I'm so sorry Jack I didn't mean to emotionally blackmail you into asking me. Its ok, you go with some pretty girl with a great sense of humour who you can have an amazing time with. Don't worry about me,"

Sam smiled bravely. Jack blinked.

"I'll walk myself home. Goodnight Jack," Sam leaned up and gave Jack a soft apologetic kiss on the cheek. At least that's what she aimed to do but as Jack turned his head slightly as Sam swooped in, her kiss landed on the corner of his mouth. Sam turned beet red for the second time that evening. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…it was just supposed to be on the…an apology…I don't want to put you off me…I just,"

Jack cocked his head to once side, watching Sam ramble. A small smile crept across Jack's lips. As Sam continued to ramble Jack cupped her face with both of his hands and looked directly into her eyes. Sam's sentence tailed off without being finished. Jack closed the gap between them and kissed her squarely on the mouth. The kiss was gentle, short and sweet. Jack moved away, smiling. Sam blushed but was also smiling this time.

"It's not a pity date," Jack said simply, linking his fingers with Sam's as they set off walking towards her home.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Meanwhile, Daniel and Janet had reached her house.

"So ummm… good night Janet," Daniel said, not quite sure how exactly to end the evening. The two had talked the whole way to her house, discovering that they shared a common interest in Latin, and things had just taken off from there.

"Yeah. Good night Daniel," Janet said as she turned to walk up the driveway. She quickly turned around. "Do you want to go to the homecoming dance with me?" she asked.

Daniel gaped at Janet. "I… I… yes," Daniel finally managed to spit out. "Are you sure?" he asked. "I mean, you're like the captain of the cheer leading squad, you could go any guy you want. I'm just like this nerdy, geeky guy. I wouldn't be offended if you changed your mind," he claimed, doubting himself.

"Daniel, I asked you," Janet said slowly. "I'm pretty sure that means I know who I want to go the dance with. Okay?"

"Okay," Daniel said injecting more confidence into his voice than he actually felt.

"Good," Janet said right before she gave Daniel a light kiss on the lips and escaped into the house, leaving a stunned Daniel Jackson behind.


	12. Chapter 12

This chapter was written by my fantastic co-writer and beta reader lkhoward88. A few sentences here and there are mine but most of the credit should not be given to me. Thankyou for reviewing, it keeps us writing!

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Chapter 12

It was Homecoming week at the school, and in George Hammond's experience, this could be a very good, fun filled week, or a very bad, tense week. This year, he expected things, at least for the football team, to go smoothly.

Jack O'Neill was in his second year as Captain of the football team and knew exactly what Hammond expected from him as a leader and model player.

So walking into the locker room to find his star quarterback and likely homecoming king, who had been nothing but good friends; about to come to blows was quite a shock.

"What is going on here?" he bellowed, stepping between the two young men. Both of them suddenly found the ground fascinating. "My office now!" he ordered.

Enclosed in his office, the two boys' familiarity with the military shined through as they stood at almost perfect parade rest while they waited for their coach to speak.

"One of you want to tell me what was going on out there?"

Silence.

"Okay. See I'm at a loss here guys," George admitted as he sat on the corner of his desk. "If you were Kawalsky and Ferretti, I would think that the two of you were just goofing off and it had gotten out of hand. But since I know Jack is usually the one to break apart that kind of thing- that leaves me with the other option. A girl."

"He asked my sister to the dance," Mark exclaimed, like this was a world ending event.

George would have laughed if not for the seriousness of the issue. If his star running back and quarterback weren't getting along, his football team was doomed.

"Is this true Jack?" George said accusingly, although in all honesty he could see little problem with the two dating. After all they were both good kids from nice families. Although he had to admit he was feeling somewhat protective towards Sam, but if she couldn't date a nice guy like Jack then who could she date? At least it wasn't some of the other boys George knew at the school.

Jack swallowed, thinking, he wasn't as stupid as he pretended to be. So he lied to the older brother of his homecoming date and coach, who was also old friends with said girl's father.

"Yes sir, but we're going as friends, nothing more. It was a deal I had with Daniel to get him to ask Janet out. He had to ask her and I had to ask Sam. I figured she already had a date so it wouldn't be that big of deal," Jack explained. "But she didn't. Have a date that is."

"I know she didn't have a date. I've been threatening every guy that's come near her for the past two weeks," Mark claimed.

"Oh."

George watched Jack look up and meet Mark's gaze.

"I'm sorry," Jack offered weakly.

Mark shrugged. "Nah, I'm sorry. I overreacted, but she's my little sister you know? I've been chasing off potential boyfriends for years now. I think I was more upset with the idea that one of my friends was dating my sister and he hadn't thought to tell me first, you know?"

"Hey, I totally understand. I have four younger sisters, remember?" Jack reminded him. "Just be glad you only have one sister or else every conversation in the house would dissolve into 'girl talk'." Jack mock shuddered.

George stopped the conversation there before it went any further. He had two daughters of his own and considered himself to be way too knowledgeable in the habits of girls. Knowledgeable enough that he didn't want to know any more. "So we're good boys?" George asked rhetorically.

Both boys nodded in agreement.

"Good then get out of here," he ordered, shooing them out the door. "And no more fighting!" He added as an after thought.

George sighed and sat down at his desk. There were some weeks he wished he had stayed in the Air Force, and given that this was only Monday, this was going to be one of those weeks. Maybe he should call Jacob and talk to him about something that wasn't a teenage drama, like airplanes.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Unlike most days, Sam wasn't waiting for the boys in her usual spot when they emerged from the locker room.

Instead she was perched on the hood of a brand new shiny black car while her father stood next to her, dangling the keys for Mark.

Jack watched as Mark tried not to look too eager as he approached. When he was within throwing distance, Jacob tossed Mark the keys. "Happy belated birthday son," he said.

Mark smiled, and for the first time in Sam's recent memory, hugged their dad.

Jack gave them all a wave before he got in his own car and drove away. Sam smiled feeling girly as she couldn't help but blush as Jack shot her a dazzlingly charming smile.

Sam watched Mark walk around the new car, admiring it as their dad pointed out all the features of the vehicle. "Are we going to go home any time soon?" Sam finally asked impatiently. It was nice that Mark had gotten a car but she really didn't need to stand in the school parking lot for hours on end whilst the men talked machines. Besides, she probably knew more about the car then they did!

Mark just smiled and got behind the wheel of his new car. Sam slid in the backseat and asked her next question to her dad.

"So Dad, does this mean I'm getting a car for my birthday?"

Jacob's only response was a laugh.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Because Mark now had his own car, Sam missed out on her daily rides to and from school with Jack. Meaning that lunch on Tuesday would have been the first time she saw him that day. Sam felt unbelievable thankful for her Dad's timing for buying Mark his car. The new turn of events between her and Jack made her desperate to avoid him.

Rather then going to the cafeteria, where Jack would be, Sam headed for the library to meet up with Janet and Daniel. Obviously she and Jack had a difference of opinion about where they stood in their relationship.

/Flashback/

"So?" Sam asked as soon as she got home and had the chance to call Janet.

"I'mgoingtothedancewithDaniel," Janet said all in one breath.

"I'm going with Jack!" Sam squealed.

"I told you," the both said at the same time, which only made the two girls laugh.

"So he asked you?" Sam finally asked, once they both had their breathing under control.

"No," Janet admitted. "I asked him."

"You didn't!"

"No, I figured you were right. There was no way that Daniel was ever going to ask me, so I asked him," Janet explained. "So I'm guessing things went okay between you and Jack?"

"Excellent!" Sam confirmed. "Magnificent. I kissed him," she confessed.

"No way! How was it?"

"Surprising… but nice. Real nice," Sam admitted, her face flushing at the memory.

/End Flashback/

It had taken all of Monday for the entire school to find out that one of the Captains of the football team was taking the younger sister of the quarterback to the Homecoming dance, which was how Mark had found out in the locker room after practice.

What Jack didn't expect was for Mark to go home and repeat their entire conversation to Sam.

/Flashback/

"So, you're going to the Homecoming dance with Jack?" Mark asked from the door of Sam's room.

"Yes I am," Sam confirmed. "Do you have a problem with that?" she challenged, expecting Mark to be angry.

Mark shook his head. "Nope."

"Good." Sam smiled, surprised at her brothers mature reaction to the situation.

Mark turned and headed for his own room. "After all, Jack said you guys are just going as friends, so I have nothing to worry about."

Suddenly Sam's world had been flipped upside down and she was left with a great amount of uncertainty in her recently evolved relationship with Jack.

'Jack didn't say anything about just friends,' Sam thought. 'Didn't that kiss mean anything?'

/End Flashback/

Naturally Sam had furious at Jack for leading her on in such a way but had very little experience in how to deal with him, instead finding herself dwelling on every little detail of the situation. Had she somehow been to blame for Jack's actions?

Of course not Jack's actions were his own.

Sam had been starring at the same page in her Calculus textbook for ten minutes before Janet called her on it.

"Get your mind off of him Sam," she recommended. "There's nothing you can do when a guy is being a jerk."

"Guy? Jerk?" Daniel asked.

"Jack asked Sam to the dance and then told Mark that they were going 'as just friends'," Janet explained.

"Oh," Daniel said, not quite sure what he was supposed to say. After all, he was a guy, and should, therefore, jump to Jack's defence. But he had been Sam's friend first and was now kind of dating Janet, which meant he should side with the two girls.

'Wow, this relationship thing can get really complicated,' Daniel realized as he half listened to the two girls engage in a session of boy bashing.


	13. Chapter 13

With thanks to lkhoward for doing more then her fair share of workon this chapter, the previous one, and the next one! And as ever, thanyou for the reviews!

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Chapter 13

Jack approached Janet after school to find out what exactly was going on with his… Sam.

Janet glared at him as he approached her. She glared even more once he had asked her to explain.

"If you don't know, why don't you go ask Sam?" she snapped at him. She quickly slammed her locker shut and left Jack standing there with Daniel.

Jack turned his attention to Daniel.

"Before you ask, I have no idea," Daniel insisted, trying to gather his books before Jack pounced on him. Daniel knew he was a terrible liar and could very easily have information coaxed out of him.

"Give me a hint Daniel," Jack begged. Daniel looked at Jack, who looked genuinely baffled at the strange events that had been happening, and took pity on him.

"Sam somehow has the idea that you don't like her," Daniel finally said.

"Why would she think that?" Jack demanded, his aggressive tone making Daniel jump back slightly.

"I don't know Jack, maybe you should ask her," Daniel suggested slamming the door to his own locker and walking off.

"What did I do?" Jack demanded, but got no response from the retreating back of Daniel Jackson.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"What was up with you today?" Mark Carter asked in the locker room after football practice. "It was like you were on another planet."

"Nothing," Jack insisted, brushing off Mark's attempt to get him to talk. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

Mark shook his head. "You know, Sam said the same thing this morning. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

"No, of course not," Jack said quickly, a little too quickly for Mark's liking.

Mark held Jack's gaze and tried to guess what was wrong. "If you don't want to take her to the dance, just tell her you changed your mind…"

"No I couldn't do that. I said I would take her to the dance, so I'm going to take her," Jack vowed. At least, he would take her if she would let him that is. Jack inwardly sulked.

"Don't lead her on Jack," Mark cautioned. "If you're doing this to just be nice, don't. If you're doing this because you're her friend, that's different. I wouldn't blame you for changing your mind."

"I know. I'll think about it," Jack promised, desperate to leave so he could get some serious thinking done. He needed to get his head straight.

"Just… let her down gently," Mark suggested.

"I will." Jack smiled weakly and left the room.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kawalsky and Ferretti emerged from the locker room and found Daniel sitting in the hallway. The two boys looked at Daniel and then back at each other, identically nasty grins spread across their faces.

There had been an awful lot of changes since Sam started attending their school. Sam wasn't a problem, she was hot and they were jocks. Jocks hung around with hot girls all the time. It was Daniel that was the problem.

Previously Daniel had almost lived in the library, only emerging to scurry to the cafeteria in search of food. If he was lucky then he escaped back to his book filled paradise without anyone seeing, if he wasn't then he could face anything from name calling to having his head flushed down a toilet.

Now, however, Daniel was dating the head cheerleader. That wasn't right. Ferretti and Kawalsky just had to do something about that.

"What are you doing here geek boy?" Kawalsky snarled, coming to a stop in a spot where he loomed over Daniel.

"Waiting for Mark. He's going to give me and Sam a ride home," Daniel explained without even looking up from his notebook.

"I just don't understand it Ferretti," Kawalsky said. "What does a woman like Janet see in a guy like Daniel?"

"I don't know," Ferretti answered as Kawalsky reached down and tore Daniel's notebook from his hands.

"What do we have here?" Kawalsky asked as he tried to read the notebook only to find it written in a language he couldn't read, let alone understand, so he started ripping pages out of it.

"No, don't please" Daniel begged, jumping up and making a grab for the notebook only to have Kawalsky pull it out of his clutches just as the tips of his fingers brushed the it.

Kawalsky just laughed and Ferretti joined in, though not as eagerly or heartfelt as the other boy.

"What are two doing?" Jack demanded as he emerged from the locker room with Teal'c. He quickly snatched the notebook from Kawalsky's hands, separating them both with his body.

Unfortunately for Jack, at that precise moment Sam rounded the corner. She assessed the scene, and made a snap decision based on what she saw.

"Leave him alone!" she exclaimed, rushing to defend Daniel who was scrambling to collect the pages of his notebook which now littered the floor. She quickly snatched what was left of the notebook from Jack's hands. "Why can't you just leave him alone?"

"I didn't do anything," Jack insisted.

"But they're your friends," Daniel said as he stood up.

"But I didn't do it. I wouldn't do that Sam. You have to believe me," Jack pleaded.

Sam shook her head. "I don't know what to think about you anymore Jack," Sam said as she placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder and lead him away from the group of boys. "Oh, and you can find yourself another girl to take to the dance," Sam sniped as she walked out through the door.

Jack stood there looking bewildered. He had just broken up a fight between two of his oldest friends and one of his new friends, and suddenly another one of his new friends didn't want to go to the dance with him!

"What did I do?" he asked to quietly, watching Sam and Daniel walk away.

Kawalsky slapped Jack on the back. "Well, at least you don't have to let her down gently now Jack," he reminded him, recalling the conversation between Jack and Mark in the locker room.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Jack is such a, a jerk," Sam said for what seemed like the hundredth time since they had started their after school homework session. However as Daniel was too shaken up from his run in with Ferretti and Kawalsky to work, and Sam was angry, they decided to call off their work.

In fact, Sam had talked Mark into dropping Daniel off at his house, rather then bringing him back with them as normal. Sam then asked to be taken to Janet's house so she could vent. She had been so embarrassed about Jack, Ferretti, and Kawalsky's behaviour that she was sure Daniel hated her. So despite his protests that it wasn't her fault, she was now relieving all of her doubts and worries on to Janet.

"And as we were leaving, I even heard Kawalsky tell him that at least he didn't have to let me down gently now," Sam sobbed.

"Oh Sam," Janet said gently, understanding the pain that her friend was feeling, however Janet had know Jack for years. This was completely out of character for him. "I can't believe that Jack would do something like that."

"Whose side are you on?" Sam demanded, thinking that Janet hadn't believed her when she had retold the story of what he and the others had been doing to Daniel.

"Yours," Janet assured her. "I'm just saying, maybe you need to get all the facts before making any accusations. Maybe Jack was trying to help?" She suggested.

Sam raised her eyebrows. "Trying to help by tearing pages out of Daniel's notebook? Explain to me how that helps someone," she snapped.

"I'm just saying that maybe you should ask someone else. You said Teal'c was there right?"

Sam nodded.

"Ask him. He's always been the honest one during these feuds before. He'll tell you what was going on if you don't want to ask Daniel," Janet claimed.

"I don't want to ask Daniel," Sam confirmed. "He doesn't get along well with any of the guys in the group and only started hanging out with them because I do. It's my fault that he ended up in that situation in the first place."

"Daniel doesn't blame you, I'm sure," Janet claimed. "He's much smarter then that."

"It's still my fault. He could have been hurt today," Sam insisted her voice still full of tears.

"This is Daniel we're talking about. Last year he fell _up_ the stairs! And he broke his wrist. You know why?" Janet paused for dramatic effect. "He was so excited to go to history class that he forgot to tie his shoes after gym class."

Janet picked up the phone and punched in a number. "Talk to Teal'c, he'll tell you what really happened."

"Yeah?" Teal'c's voice boomed through the phone.

"Teal'c?" Sam began, wondering why he sounded so loud on the phone. "I need to know what happened today."

"I'm staying out of it," uttered Teal'c.

"Please Teal'c."

"Sam, you guys need to work it out among yourselves. I'm not getting in the middle of this."

"Please Teal'c," Sam begged.

"I'm not getting into it," Teal'c repeated, and hung up the phone.

"He hung up on me," Sam explained with a sigh as she gave the phone back to Janet.

"What did he say?" Janet enquired.

"He wouldn't tell me anything!" Sam exclaimed with a slight pout.

'Well on the plus side she isn't in tears anymore' thought Janet.

"Just that we needed to work it out ourselves," Sam finished.

"Huh. That's the first time he's done that. Usually he's the one with the advice and the will to straighten everyone out," Janet mumbled thoughtfully.

"Yeah, well now I still don't know what happened," Sam complained, throwing herself dramatically onto Janet's bed.

"Drama Queen!" Janet teased, poking Sam in the side making her giggle. The mood soon turned serious again as the two friends started thinking about homecoming.

"I can always go with a group friends," Sam suggested mildly. Janet jumped in at this and started analysing the benefits of going without a date – after all, think of the choice of boys!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jack O'Neill had never felt so low before in his life as he did Saturday night when he went to pick up his homecoming date. Sure, they had won the football game by a landslide the night before, right after he had been crowned Homecoming King. But he hadn't talked to Sam since Tuesday, and in all truth he wasn't sure Sam was ever going to talk to him again.

/Flashback/

"Jack," Sarah smiled seductively as she slid into the chair next to him, "You don't have a date, and I don't have a date, why don't we go together."

"Sarah," Jack started say, aiming to turn her down. As pretty as Sarah was, their personalities just didn't match up. Jack really didn't want to get into a relationship with her again. Suddenly Jack realised that Sam was sitting the next table over from him in the library. "Sure, I'll go," he blurted out, reaching over to hold Sarah's hand.

Sarah gave him a dazzling smile but Jack was too focused on Sam to notice. Sam, upon hearing Jack's decision, had quickly gathered her things and rushed from the room.

/End Flashback/

Jack smiled forcefully as Sarah came to the door. He exchanged the required pleasantries with her parents before escorting her to his car. As far as he was concerned, it was the worst school dance he had ever gone to. Half of his friends weren't talking to him, and he spent the entire evening looking for Sam when he knew he should have been paying attention to Sarah.

He finally spotted her on the dance floor, and he felt his heart stop.

She was dancing with Teal'c.

But what caused his heart to stop was how beautiful she looked. Gone was the tomboy attitude and clothes that Jack had come to expect, and in their place was a gorgeous young woman in a dress who he hardly recognized. Sure, he knew she was pretty but now she was stunning, gorgeous even! Jack grinned stupidly at the thought of dancing with her before remembering that Sam wasn't speaking to him.

Sadly Jack didn't get much time to admire Sam, as Sarah was demanding his attention. For the whole evening, Jack was distracted as he watched Sam dance with guy after guy after guy. It seemed like every guy in the room had danced with her, excluding Jack, Ferretti, and Kawalsky of course.

Meanwhile, Sam was enjoying her first high school homecoming dance. She hadn't had a reason to go during her freshman year, and even though she didn't have a date for this dance; she did have a large group of friends to go with. Teal'c and Mark, plus their dates, along with Janet and Daniel had all went out to dinner prior to the dance, and despite being the only one without a date, Sam hadn't felt left out at all.

She had spotted Jack with his 'date' and had decided to ignore him. They hadn't spoken since Tuesday, and other than their shared math class, hadn't even been in the same room since Thursday.

/Flashback/

Sam had gone to the library during lunch to purposely avoid Jack during lunch on Thursday. Then he had shown up in the library and sat down at the table behind her with his ex-girlfriend.

"Jack," Sam could overhear Sarah saying, "You don't have a date, and I don't have a date, why don't we go together,"

Sam stopped what she was doing and strained to hear Jack's response. She could feel her heart break when Jack had agreed.

Unable to hide her emotions any longer, Sam had gathered up her things and rushed to the bathroom where she wouldn't have to hide her tears.

/End Flashback/

Lying in bed that night after her first dance, Sam wasn't sure she would ever want to talk to Jack again after the pain he had caused her.

She realized not having Jack as her friend would be tough, but as her other friends had shown her tonight, she still had them.

Little did Sam know that Jack would need her very soon.


	15. Chapter 15

Thanks again for all of your reviews lkhoward88 and I really appriciate your support.

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Chapter 15

It was lunchtime and the high school had finished early for a teacher work day/afternoon, so Jack had gone home, bringing Teal'c with him. Unfortunately being home at lunch time was also really boring. Jack juggled the apples at top speed as Teal'c watched, one eyebrow raised.

"Why are you doing that?" he questioned.

"Mime training," Jack said earnestly, not stopping his juggling. Jack's mom entered the room, crying "Mom? What's wrong?"

"It's…Its Charlie. He's in hospital, he's been hit by a car," she choked out between her tears. Jack stopped juggling so suddenly that he half threw the apples at Teal'c who caught them in a spectacular display of quick reflexes and put them back in the fruit bowl.

"What?" Jack's face had gone white.

"Come on Jack, we need to get to the hospital," Jack found himself being led out of the door by his mom who was grasping tightly onto his hand. Teal'c looked nervously around the O'Neill household before taking the nearby phone. Unable to think clearly he pressed redial. After a few rings Sam picked up the phone. A voice in the back of Teal'c mind wondered why Jack had last called Sam, given that they weren't speaking.

"Sam," Teal'c whispered tearfully "It's Teal'c,"

"Why are you calling from Jack's?" Sam enquired, genuinely confused.

"Huh?" Teal'c had expected that he'd be the one explaining not Sam and was thrown off track by her question.

"Caller ID…"

"Oh erm…nothing. I, ahh, I mean," Teal'c was going into shut down mode, unable to communicate as his mind was in such a panic about Charlie. "Charlie's been hit by a car."

"What? You're kidding? This is some sick prank isn't it?" Sam said, incredulously. Teal'c didn't reply. "Right, ok then…err…has Jack gone to the hospital?"

"Yeah I'm at his house on my own. Jack and Mrs. O'Neill went together. Mr. O'Neill must be on his way there to. I…what do I do Sam?"

Charlie was just as much Teal'c's brother as he was Jack's. Teal'c didn't know what he was supposed to do, all her could do was panic. Thankfully Sam snapped into superwoman mode.

"Look around the house for some spare keys so you can lock up safely. If you can't find any then I want you to stay put. In fact stay put and make yourself useful, start cooking some lunch. I'm going to get Mark to drive down to the middle school and get Jack's sisters from their school and bring them back for lunch. So that's four teenage girls that need feeding. Can you make pasta?"

Teal'c nodded dumbly at the phone.

"Did you just nod?" asked Sam after a moment's silence. Teal'c nodded again before understanding Sam's point.

"Yeah I'll start making it now. What are we going to tell them?"

"The truth, that there's been an accident involving Charlie and we don't know how bad it is," without waiting for any response from Teal'c, Sam hung up the phone and set about on her tasks.

Teal'c felt a sudden sense of relief at being given instructions from Sam; he needed something to take his mind off the accident until better news came.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sam was going to make an amazing parent one day, decided Teal'c as he watched her take command of the situation. Sam had informed the girls of what she knew, had them fed and ordered them to change out of their school clothes. Now they had each been given jobs to do stop them from sitting around imagining the worst possibilities. All of the girls were packing overnight bags with clothes and a few toiletries for their parents and Jack in case they decided to stay the night at the hospital. Sam, knowing that most of Charlie's needs would be cared for by the hospital, had ordered Teal'c to select Charlie's favourite bed time toys to be taken to the hospital.

"Teal'c," Sam said softly, slipping her arm around Teal'c's waist and giving him a small cuddle. For the first time in the hour or so that she'd been here, Teal'c wondered how Sam was handling this. On the outside she was efficient and capable, but Teal'c knew that Sam was easily hurt emotionally.

"How you doing?" he asked, finding his own voice to be hoarse.

"I've got to help Jack. Do you think he's coping on his own? Am I needed more here or with him? He's hurting Teal'c, I've got to help him," Sam's voice wavered slightly.

"I'll cover things here; you left a list of things to keep us busy didn't you?" Sam nodded in response "Well me and the girls will work through that then," Teal'c offered.

Sam turned towards Teal'c and nuzzled into him, feeling unsure of herself. She allowed herself to be calmed by his embrace for a moment before her military raising kicked in. She wasn't the one who was hurt right now; she needed to help the person who needed it most. Okay so when her dad had told her that he was talking about battlefield injuries but she could still apply it elsewhere.

"I'm going to comfort Jack. If he doesn't want me I'll come straight back here so you can go handle this in your own way," Sam mumbled into Teal'c shoulder.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sam arrived the hospital, having had Mark drive her over. She quickly tracked down Jack with the help of the receptionist. He was sat alone in an empty white corridor. Sam, now uncertain on what she should so, tiptoed over to Jack and sat down next to him. Sam hesitantly reached out one hand and gently rested her finger tips on his shoulder, too afraid of rejection to place her hand out flat on him.

"He didn't make it," Jack sobbed, his whole body shaking. Jack moved suddenly, turning his body around, into Sam's. His head buried in the crook of her neck, his arms tight around her waist as he howled in pain. Sam rocked him gently, kissing the top of his head as if he were a small child. As if he were Charlie.

They didn't get much time together as Jack's parents came into the corridor. Sam gently nudged Jack who looked straight up at his father. The two were sending messages in a language that Sam couldn't read through their eyes. Suddenly Mrs O'Neill seemed to recall something important.

"Oh God the girls! No one picked them up from school…they'll have walked home on their own. None of them have house keys yet how can they get in?" Mrs O'Neill was in a panic, worrying about daughters. Sam cleared her throat.

"Teal'c's in your house with them. I got my brother to pick them up from school. They've had dinner and done their homework. We packed overnight bags for you three in case you needed to stay here," Sam indicated the bags she had dumped unceremoniously on a chair upon her arrival.

"I'm going to stay with Charlie…Charlie's body," Mrs O'Neill broke down into a fresh set of tears.

"Thank you Samantha," Mr O'Neil said sullenly. Sam didn't ask how he knew her name; she just stood up to leave.

"I told Teal'c I'd look after the girls so he could come here. I…errm…" Sam's sentence got lost when Jack looked at her, his eyes almost black.

"I'm coming with you," Jack was barely able articulate what he wanted, his voice was so broken. Grasping a tight hold on her hand, Jack and Sam walked out of the hospital.


	16. Chapter 16

As ever my thanks to lkhoward88, co-writer and beta reader. This chaps mostly mine, hence why its shorter me thinks.

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Chapter 16

Jack's parents had opted to stay and grieve in the hospital for a while. Teal'c had gone home and Jack was curled up on Charlie's bed crying.

Thankfully the girls were all asleep by the time Sam and Jack had returned, so Sam didn't have to avoid any awkward questions or try to break the news to them herself.

It had been several years since Sam's mother had died and Sam understood completely what Jack was going through. He wanted to curl up and cry, he was angry and wanted to scream and shout. He needed to be held but wanted to be left alone. But most of all he wanted, he needed Charlie.

Sam crept into Charlie's room and over to Jack, who was sobbing on the bed.

"I'm going to stay the night; do you have a guest room?" Sam felt awful for disturbing him but she'd spent very little time at Jack's even before their arguments. Previously she'd only been in the kitchen, which seemed to be Jack's favourite room for some reason.

Jack shook his head as he stood up.

"Oh no it's ok you stay here, I'll figure out what I'm supposed to do. I'm here to look after you and the girls Jack."

Jack looked at Sam with an expression she couldn't interpret.

"You can sleep in my bed, borrow whatever you need. There's some jerseys in the second draw down," Jack leaned forward and pressed a soft, slightly wet, kiss onto Sam's forehead.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sam couldn't sleep because she kept thinking about Jack. She wished she could take all his pain away; she wanted desperately to help him.

Even take the pain for him.

She had suffered the loss of a loved one; she would willingly do it twice so Jack wouldn't have to hurt at all.

Unfortunately, it didn't work like that.

Sam shut her eyes tightly as someone came into the room, pretending to be asleep. The person, who Sam knew had to be Jack, shuffled around for a few minutes before approaching the bed.

Cold air hit Sam's back, making her shiver involuntary as Jack pulled back the covers. He crawled into bed behind her and wrapped one arm around her waist, his forehead leaning against Sam's shoulder. Sam wondered if she should do something, say something, turn over and hold him. She tried to remember what had been the most comforting for her right after her mom had died.

Hot tears trickled down Sam's back and she knew that it was best to leave him. Oddly the presence of Jack, upset as he was, seemed to be lulling Sam to sleep. She found herself drifting off in Jack's warm embrace.

Jack smiled through his tears as Sam made a sweet little sleeping noise that was halfway to a snore but not quite there. She wriggled slightly then rolled over so her nose was touching his chest.

Exhaustion eventually took over and Jack fell asleep.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

For the next two weeks, Jack felt like he was living in a fog. There was one shining light, the one person that could see through the haze in his mind and really reach to him.

Sam.

She'd been practically perfect in every way. Mary Poppins. Charlie didn't like that movie much.

Sam had come to the funeral, she didn't really know Charlie but she came to hold Jack's hand. The funeral service was lovely, a really nice tribute to a beautiful little boy. Jack hated it. The room was filled with people who didn't know Charlie. Sure they sent a card on his birthday and at Christmas but they didn't know his favourite colour, or how when he laughed too hard he got hiccups. They didn't know Charlie at all.

Sam didn't pretend to have known Charlie. Jack liked Sam for that even more.

"I wish I'd have known what his favourite food was, I'd have bought it for him that day we went to the mall," Sam said pensively, her presence familiar at Jack's side. It was the just the thing to say.

Other people at the funeral had said they were sorry such a well behaved, nice boy had died. Charlie wasn't really that well behaved, he got into trouble at school for pushing other kids over, he ate with his fingers when he was told not to and he had temper tantrums when things didn't go his own way. Charlie had been a normal little boy.

Had been.

Past tense.

Jack's mom was having difficulty coping looking after her five children, as if six was the only number she knew how to handle. Jack's dad had thrown himself even more into his work, going off with the Air Force for extended periods of time.

Sam had become a near permanent fixture in the O'Neill household. She cooked, cleaned, changed the bed sheets, did laundry, helped with homework, washed the cars, mowed the lawn, went grocery shopping and most importantly gave out cuddles to anyone who needed it.

It was hard to believe that Sam was only a year or two older than the girls; she seemed so adult, like she'd grown up far too fast. Jack knew it wasn't because of Charlie's death but because of her mother's.

Sam had taken control of her own household when her mom had died, letting her dad go out to work and her brother lock himself in his bedroom for hours at a time. The Carter family had learnt to cope without a mom thanks to Sam. Now Sam was taking control of the O'Neill family and teaching them to cope without the youngest boy.

Jack stood up and walked over to Sam, who was ironing Mr O'Neill's work shirt for the next day, and kissed her hard on the mouth. She kissed back just as passionately as he kissed her. They broke apart both slightly out of breath.

"Thank you," Jack mumbled.

"For what?" asked Sam, truly confused.

"For everything you're doing," Jack kissed the top of Sam's head.

Sam still didn't understand what Jack meant, as far as she could see she was just lending a hand to some needing people. Nothing that deserved a thank you.

Of course Sam hadn't been the only one helping Jack through his grief. Everyone had pulled together for Jack. Ferretti and Kawalsky would come over and distract Jack with talk of football and blondes. Janet, who happened to be a wonderful cook, would make dinner and invite everyone around for either a night of diverting attention away from Charlie or a night of remembering him.

Daniel had been the most surprising from Jack's point of view. The two hadn't really been that good friends before Charlie passed away, and they weren't exactly the best of friends now. But Jack liked his company, talking to Daniel was like have therapy. He always listened and gave advice if he needed it.

Jack was tremendously grateful for the help of his friends, especially Sam, his sort of girlfriend. Jack realised he didn't know what he was supposed to call Sam now. They were past the point where they could be called friends but he didn't know how to define their new relationship, especially after the homecoming dance incident.

The only time they had kissed had been a few moments ago, as a thank you for being so fantastic, but they slept in the same bed on every night that Sam was at Jack's. Nothing happened between them apart from cuddling under the covers.

For some reason Jack found himself thinking about how Charlie had claimed Sam to be his girl. He'd been so upset when Jack had hurt Sam that he had made Jack promise to make Sam happy no matter what. For a child Charlie had sure known a lot more about adult relationships than Jack had.


	17. Chapter 17

As ever thanks to lkhoward88 for all her hard work on the fic, and to you readers for the lovely replies!

Chapter 17

Sam was greeted with a look of shock when she walked into the kitchen in her own house on Tuesday morning, a few hours before school started. She'd stayed the night at Jack's once again but had gone home at his request.

Since Charlie's death, Sam had been able to understand Jack best out of all his friends.  
She understood the mood swings and had allowed Jack to shout and swear at her if he needed to and had rocked him to sleep when he needed that. Sam remembered when they were grieving her mother; Mark pushed his loved ones away to protect himself, thinking that if he didn't love them then if they died it wouldn't hurt. After a few weeks Mark let Sam and Jacob back into his life, Sam to a larger extent then Jacob.

Sam assumed this was what Jack was doing to her, pushing her away as a defence mechanism.

"Morning dad," Sam smiled happily as she took a milk carton from the fridge. The atmosphere in Jack's house was so tense it was almost unbearable. Here it was just the usual busy feel. Sam made a mental note to bring Jack over to see if it affected his mood.

"How's everything going?" Jacob asked. He wasn't angry at Sam for staying out all night; he had come to expect that from her now. Sam was going to help these people no matter what.

"They're coping. I'm a little worried that Megan's not eating properly so I'm going to eat with her for the next few days but other than that they're doing well," Sam took a gulp of milk.

"Not out of the carton Sam! Were you born in a barn? Use a glass!" Sam grinned; it felt almost strange to be told off, to be the one who wasn't in charge for a change.

"Sorry dad," Sam put the milk carton back in the fridge and bounced upstairs to get changed for school.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Sam clicked open her locker to find a folded piece of paper taped to the inside of it, on the door. It was a note from Jack.

_Sam, meet me down by the river at the start of third period. Jack xx_

Sam didn't believe in skipping school but knew she'd do it in a second for Jack, except today. She was supposed to meet with her guidance counsellor to discuss her options for the second semester, now that November had arrived.

Thankfully she ran into Jack in between classes.

"Jack I've got a meeting with my guidance counsellor," Sam said gently, Jack's face fell. He had everything planned out, apart from Sam being able to get there that is. "How about we do something after school?"

"Yeah, sure. You betcha," Jack's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Sam felt a rush of guilt. Maybe she could skip…? No, she really couldn't.

The two went their separate ways to their classes, with Jack feeling slightly rejected and Sam feeling unbelievably guilty.

A few hours later Sam was sat with her guidance counsellor trying to pay attention but her mind was firmly stuck on thoughts of Jack.

"Now there are many large science companies around, it just depends which field you would rather go into…" the guidance counsellor chatted away.

"Air Force," said Sam distractedly. In all honesty she already knew what she wanted to do and how to get there.

"Are you sure Samantha? You're very clever a scientific field or mathematics would be much along you lines,"

"Go into the Air Force, concentrate on plane mechanics at first, work my way up the ranks and eventually become an astronaut," a thought suddenly struck Sam, if she was this planned out why hadn't she gone with Jack? She didn't need the counsellor's help so why did she need to be here?

"Right, ahh, well..."

"I've got to go, sorry," Sam leapt of her chair and ran through the door.

Sam had never been as thankful for her father's old friends as she was when she realized just where Jack was this period. It didn't take much more then the use of her puppy dog eyes for Sam to talk her and Jack's way out of Mr. Hammond's gym class.

Coach Hammond had probably been the most understanding teacher when it came to dealing with Jack O'Neill. He had lost a brother in 'Nam, and partially understood just what Jack was going through. George acknowledged the fact that Jack had friends like Sam Carter would be one of the reasons why he would eventually be okay.

"What's up Sam?" asked Jack with authentic concern.

"Nothing I just…," Sam trailed off right before she kissed him. Jack smirked as they broke apart.

"Want to see what I had planned?" enquired Jack, to which Sam responded with an eager nod.

"Come with me," Jack advised her, grabbing her hand. Sam trotted along behind like an excited puppy.

They reached the river within minutes, both slightly out of breath. Jack seemed to be heading to a particular place – Sam knew it vaguely having been there once before. It was a quiet, secluded area; beautiful green trees curved round one small section of the river, acting almost as a shelter from the world. A perfect place for a date, in other words.

Jack led Sam to the grass, and disappeared behind a tree. Moments later he emerged with a big smile on his face and a large picnic basket in his hand. Sam gasped.

"A picnic! You big softie, you." She grinned.

"That's me! Always the romantic," Jack affirmed.

Sam pulled a face. "Well, maybe not…"

"Hey! I take offense to that." Jack put on a fake affronted voice. "Hungry?"

"Of course."

Jack pulled the picnic basket open with a flourish. Inside was a huge spread of goodies, making Sam's mouth water. There was also a large rug, a welcome addition as the grass was slightly damp.

Sam laid back on the grass and sighed happily. It was lovely to get away from real life for a couple of hours and just relax. Especially if she was with Jack. She glanced over at him, and noticed that he was staring into space.

"It will be okay, you know," she said quietly.

Jack looked at her, and for a second his expression was unfathomable. Then the corners of his mouth dropped and he let out a long sigh.

"I know," he said almost inaudibly. They didn't discuss it again, but this admission from Jack seemed to lift some of the tension and they started tucking in to the delicious food.

After a few minutes, Jack shifted closer to Sam. She had her head back and was looking up at the sky, looking quite at peace. Jack gently kissed her neck and she gave a small shiver of pleasure. "What are you doing?" she asked teasingly.

"Couldn't resist," Jack said, grinning at her. "You're gorgeous, you know."

"I know, I know… it's a burden I have to live with," Sam responded, and Jack laughed. He cupped her cheek gently with his hand. Sam looked into his eyes and realised, this is something. It didn't unnerve her; it made her feel very excited. On impulse she leaned forward and kissed his lips softly. It was their longest kiss, and Sam felt a rush of electricity run all through her body. A sudden thought struck her – what if he didn't feel the same? She looked into his eyes. One glance consoled her – he did. She smiled at him and he returned it.

They broke apart, and lay back down on the rug. The trees swayed in a friendly manner, and the sun shone down. Sam thought about school. What did it matter? She linked hands with Jack, and together they talked about nothing in particular.

In that moment, Sam knew things would be okay and that moving to this new school was turning out to be the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Well, besides meeting Jack that is.


	18. Chapter 18

As ever, thanks to lkhoward88 and to you, the reviewers!

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Chapter 18

November had come and gone, taking thanksgiving with it. That had been awkward to say the least. Sam had had two massive turkey dinners, one with her own family and one with Jack's. She didn't think she could face another turkey for months.

Her own thanksgiving had included the usual arguments on cooking as none of the Carter family had yet mastered the oven. Sure, Sam could fix it in a second but actually use it to cook something? Not a chance.

Once Sam arrived at Jack's for dinner, already feeling extremely full of burnt food, she was met with grim faces. At first Sam had thought that another tragedy had struck the O'Neill household but she had soon realised that they were still getting used to life without Charlie. This was their first thanksgiving without him. Sam did her best to cheer everyone and it worked, to an extent.

All in all Sam was glad that Jack had such a busy sporting timetable. It helped to keep his mind off his brother, whose death Jack was slowly getting over, and it made the time Sam spent alone with Jack seem even more special. Even if it wasn't as much as she may have liked.

The school had enjoyed a successful football season, the best in over 20 years; they made it all the way to the regional championships before losing to a school twice their size.

But now it was winter, and with it there was a whole different set of sports.

Sam had made the girl's basketball team, her height and good coordination making her a shoe-in for a starting spot on the varsity team. Jack, Kawalsky, Ferretti, and Teal'c were all on the hockey team, enjoying what would be their final season together. Also Mark and Daniel (surprisingly) were participating in indoor track to prepare for the outdoor season starting in spring. Janet had remained head cheerleader, which meant that her timetable was completely different to everyone else's as she was responsible for cheering on the boy's basketball team.

The group of friends made a point to eat lunch together every Friday because that was the only lunch break they all had free most weeks. They also tried to meet at least once on the weekends, chores and homework permitting. Differing practice and game schedules was making it impossible for anyone to see each other, let alone for the two couples to spend anytime at all together.

"This whole being on different teams thing really sucks," Jack declared as he sat down on the front porch steps of the Carter's house, next to Sam. "I feel like I never see any of you."

"We know!" the rest of the group bellowed, it was neither the first nor the last time Jack had made that comment.

"We agreed to not complain about it. Complaining doesn't help any, remember?" Sam said shortly barely even glancing his way.

"Yes ma'am," Jack said with a sloppy salute which earned him an elbow to the ribs and a sharp glance.

"So, what's everyone doing for Christmas?" Janet asked, to break the tension. It didn't take much to spark off an argument between them these days. What with their gruelling sport schedules and heavy workload, the teachers definitely weren't feeling the spirit of Christmas.

The general consensus was 'not much'. Just because it was winter break didn't mean that their sports fixtures just went on hold, there were four in the first week alone and they had to find time to study around all the time spend celebrating religious holidays with their families.

"Has everyone finished their Christmas shopping?" Janet questioned, this time to break the silence, it seem to be her turn to keep the peace and cheerful mood today.

"Yes," Sam and Daniel said looking pleased with themselves, everyone else murmured their no's so not to attract attention.

"So what'd you get me?" Ferretti asked eagerly, looking at the two girls and Daniel. They rolled their eyes and looked incredulous.

"We agreed to exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, so you'll find out then, provided, of course, that you have your own shopping done," Janet reminded him sternly.

"Aww, just give me a hint."

Teal'c chuckled. "Give up now guys. This is the girl who has already bought her prom dress and she won't tell anyone about it. Nobody knows what it looks like."

"That's not true!" Janet protested. "Sam knows what it looks like. She was with me when I bought it."

"That's right," Sam realised. "You decided on the one with the-" she made wafting motions about her ankles.

"Yeah and it has the," Janet assured her waving her hands at her neckline.

"Save the girl talk for later," Jack broke in gruffly.

The two girls stared at him and he looked back apprehensively he was kind of curious about the dress they were describing but he couldn't seem too interested and they would get suspicious and then sarcastic and he could do without a sarcastic Sam.

"Girl talk?" they chimed, looking speculative.

"Dresses are girly!" Jack replied defensively the girls shared an exasperated sigh.

"Shall we?" Janet asked

"I think he deserves it."

"On 3?"

"Sure."

"One."

"Two," Sam said.

And then they pounced. While everyone had been busy watching the exchange between the two girls, their hands had been discreetly forming snowballs at their sides. So discreetly in fact that Jack didn't even know what hit him when first Sam and then Janet, smeared snow on the side of his face.

The girls quickly high-fived, celebrating their success while everyone else watched Jack's reaction.

It took a few seconds for the shock to wear off and for him to wipe the freezing mush from his face.

"This means war," he declared, once he had fully come to his senses and he began to put together his own, huge, snowball.

Sam and Janet darted off and away before Jack could even try to throw his gargantuan weapon and rest of the group quickly took off to start their own stockpile in the impromptu free-for-all snowball fight.

Daniel formed an alliance with the two girls by thwacking Teal'c in the back of the head to distract him while they found a more defensible position, but this backfired when Teal'c turned and saw him try to dart away and hit him in the shoulder with the snow ball meant for Sam and Janet. Teal'c was about to bury Daniel under a mountain of snow but he was rescued by Kawalsky and Ferretti tackling Teal'c to the ground and stuffing snow down the back of his shirt. Daniel flinched when Jack offered him a hand up, suspecting foul play but Jack was a fair guy and helped him up.

The girls suddenly appeared from behind on of the giant conifers bearing a huge amount of ammo and pelted everyone else indiscriminately, this of course drew everyone else's fire and they went down under a mound of snow. This was the point at which Jacob who had just go back from work got hit squarely in the jaw by a stray snowball and joined the fray calling for back up from Mark.

The game continued for another our or so but eventually they were all snowballed out and everyone was significantly damper and colder than Jacob, who had turned out to be a master at snowball fights. They all trudged into the house and sprawled in front the fire to warm up and dry out.

Jacob bustled in to the kitchen for a while and returned with cups of steaming hot chocolate.

"Did you learn anything boys?" he asked, with a twinkle in his eye.

"Yes sir! Respect your elders," Jack grinned as he accepted the cup of hot chocolate.

"Sound advice," Jacob said.

"If someone hadn't changed sides halfway through," Kawalsky said, looking at Daniel, "We would have done better."

"Hey there were no sides, you're just mad that I got snow in your pants," Daniel said petulantly.

"We saved your ass against Teal'c and you know it!" Ferretti retorted.

"I think you'll find it was a free-for-all and in that situation all alliances are fleeting and you shouldn't be afraid to cut your losses and stab your friends in the back, tactically speaking," Jacob said giving Daniel a wink. "I think Sam and Janet had the best strategy, quick and accurate hit and runs and once the ammo ran out returning to their base. However there was a clear winner today…" he trailed off looking pleased with himself.

"DAD! You know that's only because you weren't there from the beginning if you'd been there all the time you would be just as wet as the rest of us," Sam objected.

"Sorry," Jacob said looking entirely unrepentant, "I can't help it if I had the tactical advantage of returning home only after you had engaged in snow warfare."

"You know, I think I hear my mom calling," Jack quickly said before the conversation devolved into an argument about fair and unfair tactics and then into a snow war meeting where they plan out the strategy for the next snowball fight. He turned to the door and nearly forgot that he hadn't said goodbye to his girlfriend. Mindful of Jacob, who was watching them; he gave Sam a chaste kiss on the lips.

Jacob glanced away looking slightly uncomfortable but Sam was a teenager and capable of making her own decisions and mistakes. Jack was a good kid and he liked him so he could stand a few seconds of seeing him with his daughter. Just a few seconds mind you, any longer then that and he had the lawful right to go find one of his guns to threaten Jack with.

Thankfully for Jack, it was just a few seconds.

"Yeah, um, I'm off," Jack said and all but sprinted for the door.

Everyone, including Jacob gave their goodbyes as they watched him rush from the house.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Christmas arrived with some of the old excitement from the days when she still believed in Santa Claus (even if she thought it was impossible for him to visit every household on one evening even if she allowed for time zones, she knew, she'd done the math at age 6 and come to the conclusion that time travel or alien technology were involved) and a lot of the warm feeling that she got from spending time with the people she loved.

Sam suspected that there had been quite a bit of last minute shopping done based upon the obviously rushed wrapping jobs from some people. Though Sam was impressed by how well her most of her male friends did.

They had all banded together and got her and Janet an all inclusive one day trip to the spa.

"Thank you guys," Sam had said after she realised what it was. There was no way she would have bought something like that for herself, but as a gift, Sam would take full advantage of it. Besides it would nice to spend a whole day with Janet.

Janet and Sam had done something similar for the guys.

"Hockey tickets!" Jack exclaimed as he realized just what had been in the envelope. "Thanks!"

Daniel had been presented with a one year pass to the closest museum by Teal'c Kawalsky and Ferretti. It had been Teal'c's idea but he couldn't afford it by himself so they had pitched in to help. Things between the three of them were actually pretty good after they had apologised for destroying Daniel's notebook. They didn't quite see Daniel as a friend yet, more like a barely tolerated younger brother, but Daniel had found that as long as he had a smart comment to return when they tried to make fun of him, it never got nasty.

There was a rather long round of hugs and a rather lengthy kiss between Jack and Sam before everyone left Christmas Eve, but it was the best Christmas Sam had ever had.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

January brought a return to classes, and once more the friends were scrambling to find time to spend with each other. They were thankful for several holidays and teacher in service days spread throughout that month and the next which allowed them to get some time together to relax and do something besides go to each other's sporting events and studying.

Truthfully, they didn't mind going to each other's games, but it certainly fell into a pattern pretty quick. Mondays and Wednesdays were hockey nights, often followed by rushing to the boys' basketball games to watch Janet cheer. Tuesdays and Thursdays were girls' basketball games. Fridays had various combinations of the three sports, and Saturdays were even more varied because that was when Mark and Daniel ran their indoor track meets.

Still, despite how busy she was, this was Sam's best school year ever because she had a brilliant group of friends. Just the thought that next year, Jack, Teal'c, Kawalsky, and Ferretti would no longer be there saddened her, so she tried not to think about it too often.

With February came the beginning of the end of the sports season. Regular season games were finishing, and tournament pairings had just been announced. Her first tournament game was scheduled for none other then Valentines Day.

She knew Jack had been planning something special for Valentines Day, and she was worried that this would disappoint him. It turned out okay though, because his first tournament game also fell on the same night.

Which meant Jack's plans were still blown, but at least they both shared an equal part in the blame.

When Sam climbed off the bus after her basketball game on February 14th, she was convinced that it was the worst Valentines Day ever.

Jack hadn't been in school because his game started at midday and was at another school quite far away from theirs. So while she had watched other girls, even Janet, get flowers and chocolate from their boyfriends, Sam had received nothing.

Well, not quite nothing.

There had been a hastily scribbled note which had said 'Good Luck' in Jack's sloppy handwriting. Sam had not only bought him a card but had spent an entire evening baking cookies for him, both of which Mark had snuck into his gym locker for her.

And to top off her 'wonderful' day, her team had lost horribly. There wasn't anything that could make this day much worse.

Expecting to find her dad waiting for her, she was pleasantly surprised to find Jack there instead. "I'm sorry today was so screwed up," Jack said with a kiss.

"It's okay," Sam replied softly, trying not to let her mood seep into her voice. She knew it really wasn't Jack's fault how things had turned out, but he just hadn't made an effort to do anything for Valentines.

"I got you something," Jack said quickly. "It's just a little cold our here for it," he explained when Sam looked at his obviously empty hands pointedly.

Jack opened the backdoor of his car and pulled something out of a box. It was wrapped tightly in a towel and Jack was cradling it like a baby. "Hold your arms out," he instructed.

Sam did as she was instructed. The thing moved, making Sam start, it burrowed into the warmth away from the cool air.

"It's a kitten," Jack explained as Sam tried to peek into the towel to find out what living thing was inside it.

"Really?" Sam asked with the start of a smile. She had always wanted a cat, but had never been able to convince her father to let her have one.

"Yeah. He's grey and likes to snuggle. My sisters have been fighting over him ever since our cat had kittens, but I told them that he already had a home. Once I'd checked with your dad of course."

Sam's smile became the 10,000 watt grin that made Jack's stomach do back flips. "I'm sure once I get him out of the towel, I'll love him," Sam joked as she gave the towel a cuddle.

"Come on, let me take you home," Jack said opening the door to passenger side of the car. He tossed her stuff in the back and got in himself.

"Does he have a name?" Sam asked as Jack drove them to her house.

"One of my sisters tried to name him 'Thor' but you could change it to anything you want," Jack offered.

Sam had finally been able to find the kitten in all of that towelling so now she could see his head. He had big black eyes and much lighter grey fur than she had anticipated, but he purred as long as Sam scratched him between the ears or under his chin. "I don't know, Thor doesn't sound too bad," Sam decided. "Being named after the Norse God of thunder is pretty good I think."

And that was how Sam got her first cat and her worst Valentines Day turned out not to be quite as bad as she had originally thought it was going to be, in fact, it turned out to be her best Valentines Day yet.


	20. Chapter 20

Thanks for reviews and to lkhoward88

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Chapter 20

Sam couldn't believe how fast the school year was going; it was now May meaning that her birthday was just around the corner. Sam had hated birthdays ever since her mother died. Jacob seemed to have decided that no one could have a fuss made of them since his wife was no longer around to do it.

Mark's car was the biggest fuss that had been made, one extravagant present. But that wasn't what Sam wanted, not really. Sure she would have liked to get a car but she missed having little surprises.

Having a fuss made over her.

Jack blew a bubble with his gum which popped messily over his face. He slowly peeled off the gum as Sam talked.

"Everyone's expecting a party. Dad goes away on a mission tonight for a couple of weeks so he won't be around for my birthday. We should get together at my place."

"Sounds good," mumbled Jack, his lips still partially glued with his gum. "Shame your dad's not gonna be there."

"Wouldn't make much difference. Dad doesn't do birthdays." Sam sighed, and rested her head back against the wall. They were sat on Sam's porch just watching the world go by. "I miss having proper birthday…"

Sam was cut short as Jack swallowed his gum by mistake and started to choke. Sam leapt into action and thwacked Jack on the back once, hard, causing him so spit out the gum.

"You were saying?" Jack wheezed.

"Nothing, doesn't matter," Sam smiled fondly at Jack, rubbing his back gently where she had hit it. Sometimes dating Jack was like dating a toddler; he touched everything he wasn't allowed to (often breaking it) and shouldn't be allowed bubblegum.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

On the morning of Sam's birthday she found herself feeling deflated.

Her Dad was away and had left money in a card for her. Mark had made a little more of an effort and bought her a DVD and made her breakfast in bed.

But all in all, her birthday didn't look like it was going to be anything special.

"Happy 16th Birthday Sam," she said aloud, miserably.

Sam got dressed and ready for school as usual and found herself just wanting to go back to bed. Just as she was thinking of pretending to be sick and having Mark call the school for her pretending to be Jacob, Jack honked from outside.

Sam walked down the stairs and got into the passenger seat. Mark wasn't getting a ride with them today, for a reason Sam couldn't remember.

"Happy birthday Sam," Jack kissed Sam on the lips. She gave him a half hearted smile. Jack raised one eyebrow. "This is for you,"

Jack leaned over Sam and rummaged around in the glove compartment for something. He handed her a small, horrendously wrapped, present. Jack obviously couldn't wrap presents; there was tape everywhere, not only on the ends but covering little rips as well.

Sam had a sneaking suspicion that Jack's mom had wrapped her Christmas presents. She wouldn't put it past Jack.

Sam struggled with the wrapping paper, trying to get it open. Jack gave her a sheepish smile and pulled out his keys, which had a penknife attached to them.

Inside was a little hand made book. And there, on the font cover, written in Jack's best handwriting was the words _'My amazing Sam'._

From thumbing through the pages Sam could see a sentence Jack had written on each page, with a small cartoon underneath.

"Read some," Jack smiled, almost nervously as he started up the engine.

Sam stopped on a page with a drawing of Homer Simpson on it. Above it Jack had written _'You're amazing because you pretend to like the Simpson's because you know how much I love it, even though you don't really get it'_

"There's 53 reasons why you're amazing. There would have been more but I only started it last night so…" Jack trailed off, looking embarrassed.

Sam had to fight not to throw her arms around Jack, he was driving after all.

"Oh Jack it's lovely, you're lovely!" Sam squealed

They arrived at school and walked towards Sam's locker. There was a crowd of people around it.

"Hurry up," Daniel said, "Sam will be here any minute."

"Too late," Jack said as they approached.

The crowd parted like the waters of the Red Sea and Sam realized that her friends had been very busy decorating her locker.

"SURPRISE!" they yelled, jumping back from her locker. Sam grinned and peered inside. It was completely covered in birthday themed decorations and the inside was pilled high with presents. Sam reached out to grab one but had her hand slapped playfully away by Janet.

"Ah ah ahh not yet! You can have one present every time you come to your locker," Janet said sternly, although she wasn't able to keep the smile from her face. Sam pouted.

Since that morning Sam's day had improved hugely. She'd been given a range of brilliant presents from her friends and Jack. Daniel had gotten Sam a T-shirt with a joke about binary on it which made her snort with laughter, but Jack didn't get it. Janet had gone for make-up while Teal'c had gotten her clothes which Janet had picked out.

It was Jack's gifts that Sam like best of all. Aside from the little book Sam had received a tiny box of chocolates on her chair of every class she went to, a little nodding Albert Einstein to put in her car once she got one, a big box of chocolates (in case she ran out of little ones) and the most beautiful dress Sam had ever seen.

Jack confessed he'd had his mom help him find the dress and had then called Janet to double check that Sam would like it, only to find out that Sam had been eyeing the dress every since the two girls had last went to the mall.

Sam burst into tears and flung her arms round Jack's neck and sobbed. He really was good to her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That night Sam bounded around the house in her gorgeous new dress, a smile stuck to her face. Janet was coming by earlier to help her get the house ready for the party and then Jack and the others were due to arrive about half an hour before the rest of the guests.

Sam jumped as the doorbell rang, and then scurried to open it. Predictably, there stood Janet.

"I bought food, just in case but I doubt anyone will be eating. But look at this!" Janet held up a box but didn't think to move her hand away from the label so Sam couldn't tell what it was. It didn't matter anyway because Janet soon told her "It's a strobe light!"

"What? Where did you get a strobe light from?"

"My Uncle Herbie," Janet grinned proudly.

"Isn't your Uncle Herbie a vet?" Sam asked, her eyebrows knitted into a frown.

Janet nodded vigorously, pushing past Sam and marching into the living room "A vet with a strobe light!"

Sam shook her head with a smile. It was going to be a great night.

The two girls set about making the house ready for a party and soon the doorbell was ringing again. This time Janet opened the door.

"Look what I have," Daniel waved a disco ball at Janet.

"Do you know my Uncle Herbie?" Janet asked. Daniel paused.

"Huh? I err…no…is he…here?" Daniel stepped into the house, clearly bemused.

"Nope!" Janet took the disco ball away and ran off to install it in the dinning room.

"You look nice," Daniel called to her as she ran off, disco ball under one arm.

"We should put her on the football team," Jack mumbled from behind Daniel. Teal'c sniggered before shoving Daniel forward so he could get inside.


	21. Chapter 21

As ever thank you for your wonderful reviews and to my co-writer lkhoward88 for writing and beta reading.

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Chapter 21

The party was in full swing when the front door opened as Robert Makepeace and Harry Maybourne barged in, shoving Daniel violently into a wall. They were well known as school bullies and were not the sort of people you invited around your house.

"Heard you were having a party thought we'd stop by," Makepeace sneered to Daniel before he strutted towards the kitchen. Maybourne sloped after him.

A strange quiet fell upon the room as the uninvited guests cut through the living room. Jack intercepted them just before they reached the kitchen doorway.

"What are you two doing here?" Jack demanded.

Makepeace shrugged in a casual sort of way, one that enhanced his condescending attitude. "Heard that there was going to be a party so decided I should drop in. It's not a party unless I show up O'Neill. Look I even brought beer."

Makepeace waved a six pack of beer at Jack.

"Want one?" he taunted, opening his own and taking a sip "Go on, I'll let you,"

"No thanks _Robbie_ I'll be alright. I think it's time you should leave," Jack said firmly, trying to remain calm. So far it had been a brilliant night and Jack didn't want anything to ruin Sam's birthday party.

"Nah I'm quite happy where I am, the view is lovely." He was gazing past Jack and into the Kitchen where Janet and Sam were stood getting drinks and laughing together. Turning back to Makepeace Jack growled low and then pushed him back a few paces.

"I _really_ think you should leave now," Jack said, a cold and protective fury rising in his chest giving him a certainty he hadn't had moments before.

Makepeace shoved Jack in retaliation and they were quickly embroiled in a scrappy fight.

Sam watched in horror as the boys fought, brutally slamming their fists into each other. Blood gushed from Jack's lip and the side of his head where he had been forced into the coffee table. Makepeace had a bloody nose and a large cut above his eye.

Sam rushed over to the phone and quickly dialled a number.

"Coach Hammond? It's Sam; can you come over and help? It's my party and there's a fight…" Sam said at top speed.

Maybourne, not one to be left out, had also started to fight. He had picked on Daniel who had been trying to reason with the brawling pair. Daniel was no fighter and was struggling to remain standing against Maybourne. Teal'c had jumped into his defence.

As Sam started to cry tears of frustration a hand slipped into hers. It was Janet.

"Help will be here soon," she reassured Sam, giving her hand a little squeeze.

Sure enough within a few minutes the front door banged open and George Hammond entered the room. Although Jacob trusted his kids to behave and had allowed Sam to have the party when she requested it, he had asked Hammond to be ready just in the off chance that help was needed.

"Just what is going on here?" Hammond bellowed, taking in the sight in front of him. The room was filled with nervous looking students who were moving away from the centre where the fight was still taking place, oblivious to the silence that surrounded them.

Makepeace swore as Jack flipped him over and sent him crashing into the crowd of spectators.

"FREEZE!" yelled Hammond. The fighting ceased. Someone turned off the strobe light which had been giving the fight a bizarre, stop motion, feel. "I'll ask one more time, what is going on here?"

Ferretti stepped forward out of the crowd, sensing that his bleeding friends were too angry to come up with a logical explanation. Unfortunately Ferretti had never been the best at getting out of trouble.

"We're having a party," Ferretti began but then stopped, lost for words.

"It's my birthday," Sam said, her eyes still wet "But they weren't invited," Sam claimed as she pointed to Makepeace and Maybourne who did their best to look innocent. Blood dripped slowly from Maybourne's nose.

"This party sucks anyway," Maybourne grumbled, grabbing hold of his beer and his buddy, yanking him through the mass of people. His pace noticeably quickened as they approached Hammond. Neither of the boys dared to meet Hammond's eyes.

The door swung shut behind them

Hammond focused his attention on the group of nervous teenagers in front of him. "So, your 16th birthday party eh Sam?"

"Yes sir." She answered nervously; scared she'd be in big trouble. She'd had permission to have the party but it had gotten out of hand. And there had been alcohol. Ok, so only one six pack of beer which had arrived and left with the gatecrashers but it had still been there.

"And you're having a party?" Hammond's expression gave away no clues as to what he was thinking.

"Yes sir."

"So where was my invite?" he asked, smiling slightly. He knew none of the others were drunk. It was supposed to have been a small, innocent party with music, food and a strobe light.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief.

"I think I can handle not being invited if you find me a piece of cake," Hammond offered.

Sam smiled and Janet rushed off to find the man a piece of cake as requested. Hammond left the party with his cake wrapped up and told Sam to call him if she needed anything else.

With the uninvited guests gone, the party resumed. At the end of the night, Sam realized that this birthday had been her best one ever. It had been perfect and there was no way it could have been better.

Well, unless her dad got her a motorcycle.


	22. Chapter 22

Thank you for your reviews and to lkhoward88 for co-writing. The chapter after this will be the last one!!

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Chapter 22

Samantha Carter had never been a girly girl, always preferring a pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt to a dress, but judging by the way Jack was at a lost for words, she could pull off 'being a girl' pretty well.

"Do I look okay?" she asked shyly, spinning around in her floor length gown.

"You look… amazing," Jack said, trying desperately to find the right words to describe his date.

Jacob cleared his throat loudly to remind the couple that he was still there.

"You two need to get a move on if you're going to stop Jack's house before you meet everyone for dinner," Jacob reminded them, breaking off the silent conversation that Sam and Jack had been engaged in. "Drive carefully," Jacob warned Jack in a stern voice.

"Always sir," Jack said respectfully, reaching for Sam's hand.

"And make sure you're home before midnight," Jacob continued looking at his daughter.

"Dad!"

"Okay, 1 AM, but that's the latest!"

"I'm staying at Janet's," Sam reminded him.

"Oh- that's right," Jacob realized. "In that case just stay out of trouble," he requested.

"I'm not a little girl any more Dad."

"I know," Jacob admitted. "But because I'm your father I choose not to believe it," Jacob said with a wink as he leaned in to give his daughter a hug, trying not to ruffle her dress. "Have fun," he whispered in her ear.

Sam left a kiss on Jacob's cheek and was quickly out of the door.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The group of the friends congregated at Jack's house where his mom took the required pictures and Jack's sisters gazed longingly at the older girls in their fancy dresses. Even Jack's dad put in an appearance, smiling happily and making Kawalsky and Ferretti nervous as he questioned them about their plans of attending the Air Force Academy along with Jack in the fall. The General wisely avoided asking Mark the same questions, having heard from Jacob that Mark didn't share his father's love of the military.

Jack's mother took the last picture, one of everyone, as the limo pulled up. There had been a lengthy debate about hiring a limo for the evening, given how much it would cost, even when split between six couples. But Jack's parents had put a stop to that argument, offering to pay for it all, telling Jack to consider it his graduation present; after all, there wasn't much they could really get him for graduation.

So everyone piled into the limo, went out to eat at the fanciest restaurant in town, and finally arrived at the school, where prom was being held.

The theme this year was 'A Moonlit Walk in Paris' and even Sam had to admit that the decorating committee had done a fantastic job. The gym didn't look like the gym at all, rather like something that had been pulled directly from a Paris guidebook. A miniature Eiffel Tower stood in one corner and the ceiling had been strung with little lights to make it look like stars in the night sky.

"This is fantastic," Sam said as Jack pulled her onto the dance floor for the first dance of the evening.

"Yeah, it is pretty cool, isn't it," Jack agreed as he wrapped his arms around her. "Way better then last year."

Conversation ended and the dancing began as the DJ played fast paced song after fast paced song.

Eventually, Sam got thirsty and the two of them made their way over to a table that their friends had gathered at.

"Anyone else want punch?" Jack asked after he had pulled out a chair for Sam.

"Yeah."

"Sure."

"Indeed."

"Please."

"Does someone want to help me?" Jack asked pointedly. Daniel quickly popped up, followed by Teal'c.

They returned a few minutes later and Jack was laughing. He handed punch out and then pulled up a chair right next to Sam. "You will never believe who is dipping punch," Jack began.

"Who?"

"Maybourne and Makepeace. Seems that Hammond caught them trying to sneak alcohol in to the dance tonight and he punished them by putting them in charge of dipping punch all evening, with him keeping a eye on them," Jack said with a laugh.

"Serves them right," Janet proclaimed with a laugh of her own.

The conversation soon turned from this unsavoury characters to a much lighter topic and once Sam and Jack had caught their breathe and quenched their thirst they returned to the dance floor and proceeded to dance the night away.

All too soon for the myriad of dancing couples the music stopped and Coach Hammond stepped up on the stage to announce who had won the honour of being crowned prom king and queen.

"Are you all having a good time?" he asked first.

Loud cheers served as his answer.

"Glad to hear it! Well as you know, we've come to that time of the evening where we announce just who is this year's Prom King and Queen. If everyone on the court could make their way to the front of the room, please."

Jack left Sam with a quick kiss on the cheek. "Be right back," he whispered.

Sam looked after him longingly. She really doubted he would have a quick return. Even she knew that the King and Queen would have to share a dance together, and considering who had made the court, Sam had no doubt that out of Jack, Kawalsky, and Ferretti that Jack would win. Come to think of it, Sam wasn't even sure how Kawalsky and Ferretti had gotten on the court in the first place.

Hammond made a big show of opening the envelope that contained the name of this year's winners and finally read, "Are… Jack O'Neill and... Jenny Thompson."

Sam smiled happy that Jenny had won and not Jack's ex-girlfriend Sara.

She couldn't help feeling a little worried about what would happen after this year was over. It had been her best year of school ever, but the Jack was the main reason, and he would be leaving town and going to Colorado Springs to attend the Air Force Academy. Out of all her friends, it would just be her, Daniel, and Janet that were left.

And everyone knew long distance relationships were hard, especially ones that involved long periods of separation like she and Jack would be forced to endure. Sam knew she would be lucky to see him before Christmas once he left, and could she really expect him not to date at the Academy? Sam wondered as she watched Jenny and Jack dance.

As the song came to an end, Jack gave Jenny a hug and made his way over to her. Sam forced herself to put on a brave smile, whatever happens after Jack leaves was out of her control but she was going to make damn sure she made the best of what she had while it lasted.

A slow country song began to play and Jack offered Sam his hand. "Come on, let's enjoy the night while we can."

Sam's smile grew as she let Jack lead her onto the dance floor and wrap his arms around her.

Graduation would bring a new set of circumstances, but for now, she had Jack, and that was all that mattered.


	23. Chapter 23

So this is the final ever chapter. i would just like to say a massive thankyou to all those who have reviewed along the way and aslo to lkhoward88 for co-writing and beta reading this fic.

Oh and I realise that in 1979 O'Neill would have actually been in his late 20's but I'm going to ignore that because he quotes a 'hitchhikers guide' which wasn't written until '79. I didn't actually set this fic in any time period and its AU so anything goes right?

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Chapter 23

Sam sat with Janet and Daniel, smiling in the audience. It was a bitter sweet day, Jack and the others were graduating after several weeks of gruelling work studying for exams.

Naturally Sam had gotten straight A's, with a little help from Daniel for her languages. Daniel and Janet had also managed straight A's, with a little tutoring from Sam in math and physics.

However it was Jack that Sam was most proud of. He'd seemingly done no studying, spending almost all his time playing sports or distracting Sam from her school work.

A large smile spread across Sam's face as she watched Jack cross the stage, shake hands with the principle and receive his diploma. He'd gotten C's and B's in most subjects with an A in PE. It was enough to get Jack into the Air Force Academy and that's all he cared about.

Ferretti and Kawalsky were also joining the academy and Sam had a feeling that the three boys were going to wreak havoc upon the air force. The nation too, probably.

As Jack walked away from the stage he turned towards the crowd, punched the air and shouted: "So long and thanks for all the fish!"

Jack got himself a laugh from the crowd before he ambled off stage, his gown swishing slightly in the breeze.

The graduation ceremony was taking place outside on the football field where a large stage had been erected and hundreds of chairs had been placed out for the family and friends of the graduating class to sit and watch the action. Or lack of action.

Sam had been sitting in the stands with Daniel and Janet watching countless people they didn't know graduate whilst waiting for their friends. It had taken an hour to get to the Os where Jack was. Their school was freaking huge, thought Sam as she doodled on Daniel's arm in blue pen.

"Oi! Stop that," he said, pulling his arm away only to have Sam reclaim it and carry on with her picture. Daniel turned his head sideways to look around her hand so he could see what it was. Great, a ladybird. Just what he'd always wanted. Janet had taken hold of his other arm and was scrawling 'Janet woz ere' in big spiky letters.

After another hour or so everyone had received their diplomas and the principle finally said the words they had been waiting for "I give you the class of 1979!"

The graduating class and the audience erupted into a huge cheer. Hats were thrown by the graduates and the stands and chairs that the audience had been occupying began to clear as the family and friends of the graduates went to meet them.

"Congratulations," Sam said to Jack leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek, only to have him initiate a full blown kiss. Sam moaned into Jack's mouth as their tongues entwined. Teal'c coughed loudly making the couple part, identical guilty looks across their faces.

"Do I get a congratulations like that?" he asked, mock hopefully.

"Come on then," joked Sam, moving towards Teal'c with her arms outstretched.

"Ah ah aahh," Jack's arms slid round Sam's waist, pulling her towards him. "Not from her. I'm sure Daniel will be happy to kiss you,"

Daniel made a strange, strangled sound and backed away from Teal'c slightly.

"Oh don't worry Danny-boy you're not really Teal'c's type. Nice ladybird by the way," Jack grinned as Daniel tried to rub the pen off his arms with some spit.

Janet, who had previously been holding onto Daniel's hand, moved away looking a little disgusted "So where to now?"

"My house," Jack said decisively before marching Sam off in the direction of the car park.

As they left Sam could be seen pinching Jack's ears and shouting "Argh! Stop manhandling me!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

After the others had left Sam lay curled up next to Jack on the couch, half asleep and half watching some movie about the mafia. Jack wasn't really watching the movie either, he was lost in thought.

Early that day Sam had told him that her family were moving again and it had hit Jack like a bombshell. Even though Jack was moving to the Academy he was still going to be coming home whenever he had leave, and he had hoped that he could still see Sam. But now Sam wasn't going to be anywhere near home. She was going to Korea.

Jacob had been posted over there for some kind of peace talks and so Sam and Mark had to go with him. Jack thought he could handle not seeing Sam for a month of so at a time, but not seeing Sam until he had the money and the time to fly over there was a whole different matter. He might only get to see her once a year. Long distance relationships didn't often work and Jack knew that he was going to half to break things off with Sam.

It turns out; Sam had been thinking the same thing. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"It's not going to work, is it Jack?" she asked sadly. Jack shook his head not trusting himself to speak "Well we've got the summer. Forget about what's going to happen to us in the fall, we'll just have a good summer and then end it,"

"Yeah sounds g…like a plan," Jack stumbled upon his words. Sam lent over and kissed Jack slowly before settling back down by his side.

"Hey Jack?"

"Hey Sam?" he replied.

"What's happening to Teal'c this summer?"

"He's going to become a monk's apprentice," Sam didn't know if Jack was serious or not. Teal'c had made no plans for life after high school and would no doubt pick to do the thing that sounded the funniest reply for when people asked what career you had.

"He'd suit a bald head," Sam mumbled before dropping off to sleep.

Jack smiled to himself, it was going to hurt when they had to leave each other but Sam was right. They needed to make the most of what little time they had left with each other.

**The End**


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